Hayes Gladstone, MD, and volunteers on their Mission to Romania .

Mission to Romania

In April of 2007, Hayes B. Gladstone, MD, Associate Professor, Director of the Division of  Dermatologic Surgery and Director of the Stanford Advanced Skin Care Center, led a group of 12 Mohs surgeons, nurses and histotechnologists on a volunteer surgical mission to Bucharest, Romania. This trip was sponsored by the Blade and Light Society, a nonprofit organization, which Gladstone and Northwestern colleague, Murad Alam, MD., founded in 2003 to promote humanitarian missions, research and collaboration among young dermatologic surgeons. Romania which is an emerging economy has a high rate of skin cancer, but only one self-trained Mohs surgeon in the country. While the Romania is rapidly developing, the majority of its population has limited access to health care.

Gladstone and other team members performed Mohs surgery for two days operating late into the night, and performing the subsequent facial reconstructions. Gladstone and his colleagues then taught a continuing medical education course on Mohs Surgery and facial reconstruction to an audience which included Romanian and Bulgarian dermatologists. Gladstone said,”This trip was very rewarding; the patients, many of whom had very large lesions benefited from our visit,” adding that “ our hosts were wonderfully hospitable, and Romania is truly a beautiful country with an exciting future.”

Gladstone said that he hopes to establish Blade and Light Dermatologic Surgery Centers at public hospitals in Bucharest and Santiago, Chile as well as Capetown, South Africa and Asia. Teams of dermatologic surgeons would operate on these underserved populations several times per year.