Ali Shendi from Egypt, came to London to apply for an International Society of Nephrology (ISN) fellowship at the Royal Free London hospital back in 2014/2015. We were pleased to hear that with the help and knowledge passed on to him from the Royal Free London renal team, he has successfully established a kidney transplant programme in his home hospital in Egypt.
Ali tells his story as follows:
I commenced my ISN fellowship at the Royal Free London and it was a great opportunity to have exposure to different areas of nephrology, with particular focus on kidney transplantation in its different stages. I was able to learn a lot from the renal team, my mentor Dr Mark Harber, Prof Andrew Davenport and Prof Alan Salama. Besides the clinical experience, I joined a number of research projects. Indeed, this outstanding experience had invaluable impact on my knowledge and attitudes.
It was a dream for me and my colleagues at the Zagazig University hospital in Egypt to establish a sustainable kidney transplant program. Since my return, our team worked to set up the logistics and start the program. We had the spirit to overcome the challenges we faced, and worked with the liver transplant team to start a combined organ transplant project. Finally, our program came to light in late 2020 when we had the first case transplanted, followed by the second in May 2021. This represents a great success of my fellowship.
This is a picture in the post-transplant clinic with our first transplanted kidney patient:
With two of my colleagues after the ward round in front of the room of the 2nd transplanted kidney patient.
Currently, we have a list of patients at different stages of pre-transplant workup. Such a program represents a major advance in the nephrology practice in our area, since our hospital is a tertiary hospital serving more than seven million people. We were also keen to build bridges of collaboration with the Royal Free London hospital team and the transplant centre in Mansoura in Egypt. Our team works to maintain a successful program capable of providing proper care to our renal patients
