The recently concluded trip to Kenya by Dr Murray Brennan on invitation by the Aga Khan and RJW Foundations was a success. The immediate former chair of The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York delivered Grand Rounds at the Aga Khan University Teaching Hospital in Nairobi on October 24th 2007. The Aga Khan Group has embarked on a multi million dollar endeavor to establish the first Comprehensive Cancer Center serving over 240 million people in East, Central and Southern Africa and drew on Dr Brennan’s experience as surgeon, administrator and teacher.

His talk, the second annual RJW Distinguished lecture entitled, "Why a Cancer Center?" highlighted the predicted disproportionate increase in the oncologic burden of disease predicted for the developing world as compared to that in industrialized countries emphasizing the need to mitigate the predicted increase in cancer mortality forecasted for sub Saharan Africa over the next two decades. Dr Brennan pledged his commitment in assisting in the search for educational opportunities for Kenyan surgeons seeking one or two years of further training but with a view to returning to work within the Kenyan Health System. Dr Brennan was accompanied by his host and RJW Founder Dr Awori Hayanga, University of Michigan's Dr Vincent Cimmino and Dr Allan Pickens. The team participated in a two day series of multidisciplinary meetings with Asmita Gillani, the Aga Khan Group CEO, Professor Asad Raja, Aga Khan Chair of Surgery , The Vice Deans of Graduate Education, Residents and Faculty.

Dr. Murray Brennan accompanied by his host and RJW Founder Dr. Awori Hayanga and University of Michigan's Dr. Vincent Cimmino and Dr. Allan Pickens pose for photos with Prof Asad Raja, The Chair of Surgery, Aga Khan Teaching Hospital together with the current Surgical Chief Resident at the Aga Khan University Teaching Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.

RJW Director Dr Thomas Keane, Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan, RJW Advisor and Vice President JB Grant International Society, Katherine Westphal and RJW Founder and Class Assembly Representative of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Dr Awori J Hayanga, pose for a Picture before the Deputy Secretary's Lecture at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

The Acting Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Serivces, Eric Hargan, accepted an invitation from the RJW Foundation to engage in a dialogue with health care providers at several New York City hospitals.
Mr. Hargan met with the CEOs and senior leadership of three hospitals, and delivered speeches on the topic, "Improving Health Care by Empowering Consumers."

The hosting hospitals included Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Cornell University Hospital, and Columbia University Hospital. On hand for the visit were Thomas Keane, MD, an RJW Foundation director, and Murray Brennan, MD, the 2007 RJW Visiting Professor. Officials from the hospitals and deputy secretary's office described the visit as "productive and informative." Dr Keane, director of the RJW foundation, was on hand to introduce him.