UC Irvine Giving Day

For more than 12 years, UCI Health and the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology has partnered with physicians at Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza, Tanzania to strengthen women’s health systems through sustained, bidirectional collaboration. What began as a focused educational exchange has evolved into a comprehensive initiative advancing cancer care, maternal health, surgical excellence, research leadership and subspecialty training across two institutions.

Bugando Medical Centre is a 1,000-bed tertiary referral hospital serving nearly 18 million people—roughly the population of Florida. As one of only two comprehensive cancer centers in Tanzania and a critical referral hub for high-risk obstetrics and complex gynecologic care, it anchors women’s health services for the entire Lake Zone. At the same time, UCI Health serves one of the most diverse populations in California and trains future leaders in obstetrics and gynecology who must be prepared to care for medically complex and underserved communities. Both institutions face rising demands in women’s health. Both are committed to academic excellence. Both are strengthened through partnership.

A Truly Bidirectional Model

This collaboration is intentionally designed as a two-way exchange of expertise, experience and leadership. When UC Irvine residents and fellows train at Bugando, they encounter high-volume surgical care, complex obstetrics and advanced gynecologic oncology delivered under resource constraints. The experience sharpens clinical judgment, fosters adaptability, and deepens cultural humility—qualities that shape their careers long after they return to California. They come home stronger physicians.

Simultaneously, Tanzanian physicians receive advanced training in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology, complex pelvic surgery, research design and academic leadership. The objective is not temporary external support, but durable local expertise that strengthens institutional capacity for decades. Knowledge flows in both directions. So does innovation.

This is partnership in its truest form.

Building Women’s Health Capacity That Endures

Over the past 12 years, this collaboration has expanded into a comprehensive women’s health capacity-building initiative that includes bilateral clinical exchange rotations; a monthly transcontinental lecture series spanning oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reproductive health; joint research initiatives addressing cervical cancer and broader public health challenges; and a binational global classroom grant-writing course designed to cultivate research leadership across institutions.

Cancer care remains a central pillar of this work, particularly in gynecologic oncology where workforce shortages are profound. Yet our vision extends across the full spectrum of women’s health—from safe childbirth and complex obstetrics to cancer survivorship and pelvic floor disorders—reflecting a commitment to comprehensive, multidisciplinary care.

We are now working toward a defining milestone: establishing Tanzania’s first internationally recognized gynecologic oncology fellowship program at Bugando Medical Centre while expanding subspecialty training across women’s health disciplines. This effort represents true capacity building—training specialists locally, retaining expertise within the region, strengthening research infrastructure and creating a self-sustaining pipeline of academic leaders who will care for women for generations.

This is how systems change.
This is how impact lasts.

Why Philanthropy Matters

Sustainable women’s health systems require visionary investment. Philanthropic support to the Margaret & Frank Higgins Endowed Visiting Resident Education Fund enables protected training time for physicians at both institutions, scholarships for subspecialty training, development of research infrastructure addressing diseases that disproportionately affect underserved women and investment in essential equipment and technology to improve diagnosis, treatment and surgical safety.

This is not short-term outreach.
It is workforce development.
It is institutional strengthening.
It is generational impact.

A Legacy of Impact

A single well-trained subspecialist may care for tens of thousands of women over the course of a career. A physician shaped by immersive global experience will serve California communities with deeper perspective and cultural competence for decades. A strengthened academic center becomes a regional anchor, training future leaders who multiply impact far beyond one institution.

By investing in people and institutions, we build sustainable women’s health systems — locally and globally, today and for generations to come. Will you join us?