Dr. Akwi W. Asombang
Dr Akwi W. Asombang is an interventional gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School. She is the Director of Global Health Programs in Gastroenterology at MGH. She completed her advanced endoscopy fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medicine Center (BIDMC), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. She completed her gastroenterology fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri and a Fogarty International Clinical Research fellowship. Prior to her fellowships she completed a combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri and her MPH at Saint Louis University School of Public Health. She is a graduate of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India. Her professional interests are endoscopy (ERCP/EUS), gastrointestinal cancers, medical education, and global health. She has extensive service to multiple national professional societies and experience in global health including clinical experience in Zambia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda and India.
She was a recipient of the Medicine Abroad Program scholarship and American Academy of Pediatrics Residents International Elective Award that allowed her to spend an international elective at Muhimbili University in Tanzania. For her volunteerism with African refuges in St Louis during residency training, she was the recipient of the Association of American Medical Colleges Resident Physician’s Community Service Award: an award given to a single individual in the whole country “during their residency or fellowship for any extra-curricular activity directed toward meeting health or other human needs in the communities where residents live and train”.
She was a recipient of the NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellowship that gave her the opportunity to conduct clinical research related to gastric and esophageal cancer in Zambia during her gastroenterology fellowship. As a faculty member at University of Missouri, she was the recipient of the American College of Gastroenterology North American GI training grant, which allowed her to spend time in Zambia analyzing the Cancer Disease Hospital database on pancreatic and colorectal cancer. Her research has been published and presented at national and international meetings. She currently serves on the American College of Gastroenterology Education Affairs Committee, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) Education Council and the World Endoscopy Organization - Activities to Reach Africa Project (WEO-ARA). She has co-pioneered the Endoscopic Retrograde CholangioPancreatography program in Nigeria by coordinated the establishment of the ERCP program in Nigeria. The initiation of the ERCP program started when she was selected as ASGE faculty to participate in the Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Nigeria (SOGHIN) 2017 Ekiti annual scientific meeting as part of the International Support Program. She was an invited guest and faculty lead at the SOGHIN 2019 scientific meeting in Ife, Nigeria. She has since continued participation as speaker and trainer in multiple SOGHIN meetings. As part of her global health in gastroenterology portfolio, she is working with the team of healthcare professionals in Zambia to establish the hepatopancreatobiliary program.
Her travels around the world, upbringing, and interaction with various populations led her to form POHER to tackle the problems faced by most of the African communities. Pan-African Organization for Health, Education and Research (POHER) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with a focus on the soundness of the health sector as the cornerstone of social and economic development of all African countries. She is also the founder of The African Association of Future gastroenterologists (AAFG). AAFG aims to provide a platform for mentorship, networking and collaboration for medical students and doctors interested in gastroenterology and hepatology in Africa.