Anya Geist, Contributing Photographer

An exchange program at Yale New Haven Hospital has taught seven Ukrainian doctors skills they will use to treat Ukrainian victims of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The program, Scholars at Risk—Ukraine, is part of a nonprofit called Doctors United for Ukraine, known as DU4U. It is run by doctors and medical professionals affiliated with Yale and Yale-New Haven Hospital. Throughout the four-week program, the visiting doctors learned improved medical practices in their field by taking part in lectures and meetings and observing patient care at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Visiting physicians will take what they’ve learned back to Ukraine, where they can teach their colleagues new techniques and improve patient care, said DU4U co-founder Alla Vash-Margita.

“This program creates an opportunity for [the visiting doctors] to observe physicians from corresponding specialties in action and also learn from their experiences,” Vash-Margita said.

Vash-Margita is an associate professor at the School of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. Vash-Margita moved to the US 29 years ago after completing medical school in Western Ukraine. When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, she and her colleagues wanted to help Ukraine and founded DU4U.

DU4U initially focused on donating money and equipment directly to doctors in Ukraine. DU4U was able to supply Ukrainian hospitals with unused medical supplies, as well as 120 heart valves, which DU4U received as a donation, worth around half a million dollars.

Ultimately, Vash-Margita and her colleagues realized that they wanted to do more than send supplies to Ukraine. 

“As physicians, as researchers, we are best [at] educating,” she said.

With funding from the Macmillan Center at Yale and other local donors, DU4U has brought over two cohorts of physicians from Ukraine. In conjunction with the Christian Medical Association, a non-profit based in Ukraine, doctors were chosen from a large applicant pool. The most recent group consisted of seven physicians who observed a broad range of medical specialties, including ear-nose-and-throat care, burn medicine and abdominal and oral maxillofacial surgery.

“It’s a unique possibility,” said Roman Chornopyshchuk, who specializes in burns and reconstructive surgery at a hospital in central Ukraine. “I think it only happens once in a life.” 

Chornopyshchuk told the News that leaving Ukraine was a hard decision, but it was a valuable experience. It is difficult for doctors to leave the country because they are frequently needed at unpredictable times due to the ongoing conflict. 

For two weeks, Chornopyshchuk shadowed doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital, learning about plastic and microplastic surgery. Then, he spent two weeks at Bridgeport Hospital’s Burn Center, observing each stage of patient care. Though he and the other visiting physicians only had observer status and couldn’t communicate with the patients, he still learned about reconstructive surgery and burn management.

The differences in patient care between New Haven and Ukraine were significant. 

Chornopyshchuk’s hospital in Ukraine has received some of the modern equipment he saw in New Haven, but until now, they haven’t used some of it because they weren’t sure how to operate it properly. 

“It was rather important to understand in what situation, in what cases, it is better to use that material,” Chornopyshchuk told the News.

For example, Chornopyshchuk learned about NexoBrid, a topical medicine used to treat severe burn patients, which can remove the need for surgery in some cases. Modern burn treatments such as NexoBrid improve patient care, while creating room for patients who need surgery or other treatments. 

Natalia Hryn is an ear-nose-throat doctor in Kyiv. Like Chornopyshchuk, she learned new methods for performing surgery, especially on patients with head or neck injuries.

Hryn appreciated the systematic approach to surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital. 

“I know what I have to do, step by step,” Hyrn said. “How [to] organize [a surgical] team, how many teams will be involved in the operation, how to plan, what kind of instruments, what kind of surgical approaches, what was the main concern for anesthesiologists, for nurses, for staff.”

With the skills she learned in New Haven, Hryn is able to be more “flexible” in how she treats patients, giving each one the most specific care they need. 

Going forward, Vash-Margita wants to expand the Scholars at Risk—Ukraine program at Yale. According to Vash-Margita, the program is looking to provide guest status to future cohorts so they can obtain hands-on experience rather than just observe. 

“We’re lucky because Yale New Haven Hospital is very interested in continuing this program,” Vash-Margita told the News. “We’re just hoping to get more support, not even financial, but support in a sense that our doctors can do more.”

Yale New Haven Hospital is located at 20 York St.