Dr. Larry Greenbaum recently volunteered with HVO’s pediatric projects at Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) in Siem Reap, Cambodia as well as at Lao Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC) in Luang Prabang, Laos, lending his expertise in pediatric nephrology. While at LFHC, he facilitated a connection with a pharmacist who can provide ongoing advice on use of pills for nephrotic syndrome, gave a lecture on nephrotic syndrome management, and aided in the development of a general strategy for medications to obtain and use for nephrotic syndrome. Dr. Greenbaum also supplied staff with a PDF of a pediatric nephrology textbook from 2023 for which he served as editor.
HVO volunteers also serve as mentors, and Dr. Greenbaum worked closely with Dr. Annkham Thammaseng, a young physician and medical director at LFHC looking to deepen her knowledge of pediatric nephrology. Dr. Greenbaum spent time answering her questions about management of patients with nephrotic syndrome and worked alongside her in clinic to provide general advice. He is now making efforts to connect Dr. Thammaseng with a one-year International Pediatric Nephrology Association fellowship.
Dr. Greenbaum has returned home, but his volunteer activities continue. He has continued to facilitate connections, reaching out to hematology contacts to share their monitoring strategy for Fanconi syndrome/acute kidney injury in patients receiving Deferasirox, a topic staff at LFHC has interest in learning more about to better serve their patients. He will be supporting Annkham as she applies for a fellowship and will work with her to refine nephrotic syndrome protocols and any other protocols the staff would like guidance on. He hopes to help connect LFHC and AHC staff by assisting in organizing nephrology conferences. He has also offered to give presentations over Zoom as needed on topics of interest as well as set up routine calls to discuss cases.
Of his volunteer experience, Dr. Greenbaum says, “I was amazed at the care that this hospital provides to children in Lao despite limited resources. There was a great spirit among the staff and sincere desire to continue to provide more and better care.”
Thank you, Dr. Greenbaum, for your efforts to advance pediatric care at AHC and LFHC!