On a chilly day last fall, Stallone Kohia, MMed, found himself thousands of miles away from his tropical Pacific home in Solomon Islands. But as the first surgeon from his island nation to train at a US-based hospital, he was willing to tolerate the weather.

“It’s a bit cold for me in New York, but I’m getting used to it,” says Kohia, who was training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “I love the place.”

Kohia came to The Warren Alpert Medical School in October to deliver a lecture about H. pylori and gastrointestinal diseases as part of the Paul J. Galkin Global Health Grand Rounds. With no medical school in Solomon Islands and a lack of infrastructure and clinicians, he says his time in the US will encourage his colleagues to follow his lead.

“I think it’s a very big boost for someone like me to practice in a setting that is far different from [Solomon Islands],” he says. “I know it’s going to be a long way to establish a medical school, but we have the opportunity to collaborate and set up academia back home.”

Kohia’s connection with American researchers grew from his friendship with Dylan Bush MD’27. They first met at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara, Solomon Islands’ capital, when Bush was an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley.

“I popped into the residents’ room and saw [Bush] there,” Kohia says. “He spoke Pijin—and fluently, too—so that definitely caught my attention.”

The two bonded over their research, and they ultimately collaborated on a paper, published in Science Progress, that examined the state of gastrointestinal disease in Solomon Islands and potential ways to expand access to endoscopy there. It was the first study of its kind in the country, Kohia says.

“Part of the issue is that, beyond not having many researchers or clinicians, there aren’t many incentives to push global research there,” Kohia says.

Bush, who also has studied diabetic amputations on the islands, says Kohia’s “accomplishments are not only a testament to his strong work ethic, but also a compelling example of the impact that can be achieved when we invest in local physician-researchers.” Bush helped Kohia apply for the fellowship at MSK.

In his talk at Brown, Kohia called for collaboration between smaller nations and global health researchers. He also met with Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Mukesh K. Jain, MD, about cultivating such relationships in the hope of one day building a clinical foundation that could lead to Solomon Islands’ first medical school.

“There are doors opening and they’re not just for me,” Kohia says. “We also have younger doctors that are coming up behind me, and seeing me come this far is motivation for them. This international collaboration plays such a big role in terms of mentorship and research, and these discussions can only ever impact us in a positive manner.”