We are delighted to learn that one of our former Global Neurosurgery Fellows in Tanzania, Dr. Beverly Cheserem, has been selected as one of three winners of a new Future Women Leaders in Neurosurgery Scholarship from the CNS Foundation (CNSF). The scholarship will allow Dr. Cheserem to attend the Surgical Leadership Program at Harvard Medical School.
The CNSF established the Future Women Leaders in Neurosurgery Scholarship this year as a means of supporting early-career women neurosurgeons. The awards are meant to facilitate participation in programs such as Harvard’s to foster leadership skills and enrich their careers.
Dr. Cheserem has been a valuable member of the Weill Cornell Medicine Tanzania Neurosurgery Project. Selected as our Global Neurosurgery Fellow for the 2019-2020 year, Dr. Cheserem had her stay in that role extended by the pandemic. Unable to leave Tanzania and move on to her next position in Kenya, Dr. Cheserem remained in her post and helped facilitate the 2020 Neurotrauma course, held virtually. After her return to Kenya, Dr. Cheserem continued to work tirelessly on a new virtual course with Weill Cornell, this one on scoliosis surgery.
Dr. Cheserem is certainly poised for a leadership role in expanding access to neurosurgical care in Africa. She was recently elected chair of the Kenya Association of Women Surgeons (KAWS) for the term 2021-2023, she was named vice chair of the scientific committee for the Surgical Society of Kenya (SSK), and she was invited to join the newly formed Global Surgery Committee of the SSK. She is also collaborating with Weill Cornell on adding a third course for neurosurgeons, this one in minimally invasive spine surgery, to debut in 2022.
The CNSF award was accompanied by a travel grant that will allow Dr. Cheserem to attend the CNS Annual Meeting, to be held from October 16 to October 20 in Austin, Texas.
See Dr. Cheserem’s blog post about her experience in Tanzania