In all of Rwanda—an East African country of 14 million people, almost half of them children—there were no pediatric gastroenterologists.
None.
But that will change in 2025, now that Rwandan doctor Gaspard Habimana has completed his training at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and is licensed to practice pediatric gastroenterology.
The specialized training
Becoming Rwanda’s first pediatric gastroenterologist means Habimana, who was already a practicing pediatrician, can now provide the specialized care required to address many of the gastrointestinal issues faced by children.
“The knowledge and skills I gained from my experience will help me improve patient care in Rwanda,” he says.
That training was supported by Dartmouth Health’s Global Child Health Program (GCHP), a collaboration between DHMC and the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth that aims to create sustainable partnerships that prioritize worldwide improvement of children’s health.
One of the key partnership sites is Rwanda.
How Habimana got involved
Habimana first participated in the program as a resident in 2017, when he came to DHMC for a two-month external rotation in pediatrics. It was during that time that he became inspired to become a pediatric gastroenterologist.
“I didn’t know much about pediatric gastroenterology until then,” he says. “After observing the work done by the pediatric GI team, especially with the pathologies they were managing, I started to think about doing a pediatric GI subspecialty.”
He first received a scholarship for an 18-month training program in South Korea, but, after completing it, found that he still needed additional training to become certified.
Habimana then reached out to Amer Al-Nimr, MD, director of the Global Child Health Program and DHMC’s section chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology, whom he had met as a resident.
“One of the great things about our global health program—which has involved capacity building and training residents from other countries for the last decade —is the bilateral exchange,” says Al-Nimr. After he was contacted by Habimana, arrangements were made for travel, housing, and training and education activities.
The program
“We built him a robust 24-week schedule of procedure learning, inpatient and outpatient consults, research, attending conferences, and the study of nutrition, hepatology, imaging, surgery and more,” says Al-Nimr.
Al-Nimr adds that he was overwhelmed by the ways faculty and staff supported Habimana, and says that “Gaspard was made to feel like truly one of our fellows.”
“I was so touched by everyone willing to help me,” Habimana says. “I am glad that I completed my training at DHMC where my inspiration for GI started.”
His experience at DHMC has also inspired him to work to strengthen the existing collaboration between Dartmouth and Rwanda, and to train colleagues from his country.
Looking ahead, he knows his practice in Rwanda will be challenging because of the many patients he will be caring for, while practicing with insufficient equipment. But he adds that the challenge also yields a reward—seeing his patients improving despite the limited resources.
This article first appeared in the December 2025 edition of Connections Magazine and has been modified for the web.