Dr. Joseph R. Masci Legacy Project

(2024 – Present)

In September 2024 with support from his family, AIHA launched the Dr. Joseph R. Masci Legacy Project, a new two-year endeavor to strengthen institutional and human resource capacity at two international hospitals – Debre Berhan Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Ethiopia and Philippine General Hospital in Manilla, Philippines. Click here to read the news release announcing the project.

Dr. Joseph R. Masci

Dr. Joseph R. Masci was an infectious disease specialist and public health leader who spent more than 40 years working to improve the lives of patients in New York City and around the world. He was also a highly valued AIHA partner who spearheaded multi-year twinning partnerships to improve HIV/AIDS care in Ethiopia and Russia.

Dr. Masci was known by all to be a caring, compassionate doctor, who educated and mentored infectious disease physicians who trained at Elmhurst Hospital Center and around the globe. He was a role model who combined vast knowledge with a kind, empathetic, patient-centered approach. Click here to read Dr. Masci’s biography and here for his Wikipedia page.

A true champion of public health collaboration, Dr. Masci said the following about AIHA’s partnership model in 2014:

“The nature of the twinning model … working so closely with our exact counterparts over several years and developing these long-term professional and personal relationships is something that is just not possible with any other form of technical assistance. There is a special value to this process where colleagues can work and grow together. When we go over as a team, we get to see each other in a different light as we all respond to the challenges of working in the Ethiopian setting. It fosters a genuine camaraderie among the Elmhurst staff and gets us to look at our own work processes more critically.”

Through the Joseph R. Masci Legacy Project, AIHA is both humbled and grateful to be working with Dr. Masci’s family to design and implement capacity-building projects that honor his legacy as a physician, teacher, mentor, and public health leader.

Explaining her vision for the project, Dr. Masci’s widow Elizabeth Bass said:

“Much of this funding will go to help improve training facilities for healthcare workers in Ethiopia and the Philippines. We hope the project’s impact will be multiplied as the health workers trained through it not only treat patients, but also share their skills with other workers and serve as mentors themselves. This would be right in line with what Joe tried to do – learning from others and teaching and mentoring generations of young physicians.”

In support of Debre Berhan Comprehensive Specialized Hospital and Philippine General Hospital, AIHA’s technical assistance approach is rooted in three key strategies:

Philippines 

In close collaboration with stakeholders at Philippine General Hospital, AIHA identified four development priorities:

  1. Supporting the reconstruction of the resident-fellow training hall, which was destroyed by two devastating fires this past year
  2. Providing scholarships to enable 10-15 residents to complete a mandatory specialty study abroad course
  3. Providing technical assistance to strengthen the hospital’s pandemic and emergency preparedness
  4. Establishing an HIV and infectious diseases mentorship program

Click here to read how Dr. John C. Añonuevo, Chairman of Philippine General Hospital’s Department of Medicine, envisions support from the Dr. Joseph R. Masci Legacy Project will help his institution.

Dr. Carlos Salama (standing at the rear center) meets with a group of residents and fellows at Philippine General Hospital during the September 2024 exchange.

The first technical assistance mission under the project brought AIHA’s Program Director Dr. Inna Jurkevich and Elmhurst Hospital Center’s Chief of Global Health Dr. Carlos Salama to Manilla September 23 – 27 where they met with leaders, residents, and other stakeholders to chart a course for project work in the coming months. Dr. Salama, who is also a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, delivered lectures on antiviral resistance and novel HIV therapies and emergency preparedness in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic to some 135 residents, fellows, and other interested individuals.

 

 

“As a pioneer during the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, Dr. Joseph Masci opened the Elmhurst HIV clinic to care for this most vulnerable community of patients from a variety of backgrounds who were being shunned by society. The clinic went on to become one of the leading HIV treatment centers in the United States. As a visionary in the field of global health, he implemented physician exchange programs in Ethiopia and Russia to improve HIV patient care abroad. Dr. Masci’s vision now lives on as his family supports a program that brings further guidance to the growing HIV epidemic in the Philippines in his memory.”

                 – Dr. Carlos Salama, Chief of Global Health at Elmhurst Hospital Center and technical advisor to the project

AIHA’s partnership linking Debre Berhan Referral Hospital (as it was formerly known) with Elmhurst Hospital Center introduced transformative changes in practice and quality of care from 2007 to 2014.

Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, the project will build on the strong foundation made through the AIHA twinning partnership that linked Debre Berhan Comprehensive Specialized Hospital with Elmhurst Hospital Center. Click here to read about the many successes of this seven-year collaboration. Through the Dr. Joseph R. Masci Legacy Project, AIHA will work hand-in-hand with the Ethiopia partners on the following priority areas:

  1. Improving access to quality, needs-driven continuing professional development training opportunities for health workers at the referral hospitals, as well as the cluster hospitals it supports
  2. Improving the quality of nursing services by enhancing and expanding skills-based competencies of nurses
  3. Implementing quality improvement initiatives designed to address significant gaps identified in infection prevention and patient safety
  4. Refurbishing and upgrading the Hospital’s Continuing Professional Development Center and Nursing Skills Lab to better support quality training and upskilling activities

AIHA launched the project in Ethiopia by organizing a training of trainers course in healthcare quality improvement at Debre Berhan Hospital’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Center. A group of 28 trainees, including senior managers, department coordinators, and other senior members of the Hospital team, attended the course, which was held September 25-30. Participants were awarded 15 continuing education units (CEUs) and the Hospital’s Medical Director commented that the training also provided an opportunity to discuss the next steps, including ideas for Project implementation and monitoring plans.

“Our goal is to expand training to develop a skilled, multidisciplinary health workforce to help ensure patient safety and combat hospital-acquired infections and antimicrobial resistance. The staff we will train will in turn train other hospital staff, along with those working at nearby health facilities.”

         – Dr. Nigussie Tefera, Debre Berhan Comprehensive Specialized Hospital CEO, speaking on the importance of establishing a well-organized Continuous Professional Development Center at the Hospital. 

In addition to these country-specific activities, the Legacy Project will also support the strengthening of AIHA’s capacity to implement development projects by providing staff members opportunities to improve our own technical expertise, operational excellence, and long-term financial sustainability. In turn, AIHA will strive to leverage the generous contribution provided by the Masci family with other prospective donors.