Collaborating across cultures

“I enjoy learning, even when it does not come easy to me,” said Anu Maharjan, PhD, when recalling her time presenting at the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine’s (ADLM, formerly AACC) quality control workshop in Mongolia. The workshop was held through ADLM’s Global Lab Quality Initiative in partnership with the Mongolian Association of Health Laboratorians. She said that she values being a part of ADLM’s Asia-Pacific Working Group (APWG) because her experience not only helped her learn more about Mongolia, but also about the bigger picture of improving healthcare through laboratory medicine throughout the world.

After two flights and 22 hours, Maharjan, along with other fellow members of ADLM’s Asia-Pacific Working Group, touched down in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This marked the first time ADLM had conducted an event in this country.

Maharjan said that throughout the conference, The Mongolian Association of Health Laboratorians taught visitors about the country’s laboratory community, as well as Mongolia’s “wide spectrum of culture, history, and tradition.” 120 laboratorians traveled from different parts of Mongolia to participate in the workshop and learn from Maharjan and her fellow ADLM presenters.

Maharjan spoke on risk-based quality improvement and noted that she enjoyed the spirited intellectual and cultural conversations on laboratory regulations and quality that she had with the session’s participants.

One of the most memorable parts of the workshop for her was walking into the conference hall and seeing the more than 100 participants reading the presentation slides in Cyrillic.

Maharjan had expected to meet with enthusiastic young people at the workshop, and to her delight, she was very impressed by the attendees she connected with. She mentioned that the conversations that occurred during breaks in presentations “felt like a start to a great laboratory partnership between ADLM and Mongolian laboratories.” Discussion bubbled over with questions for a two-hour Q&A session.

Khulan Purevdorj, MD, MSc, and Undarmaa Batbayar, MD, MSc, members of the Mongolian Association of Health Laboratorians who spoke at the workshop, shared Mongolia’s “resilient and enthusiastic culture” with Maharjan and others, as well as their “passion for human health through laboratory medicine.” Maharjan also enjoyed her conversations and meetings with the other ADLM members who presented in the workshop alongside her: Victoria Zhang, PhD, Qing Meng, PhD, MD, Lakshmi Ramanathan, PhD, and Robert Rej, PhD.

Participants visited Gyals Laboratory and The First Central Hospital of Mongolia, both of which are located in Ulaanbaatar. Maharjan recalled that the laboratories were well-equipped.

Gyals Laboratory performs clinical pathology testing and is looking to expand into molecular and genetics testing. Maharjan was impressed by their instrumentation and the innovative technologies they use. She also described a consultation service that Gyals Laboratory utilizes where patients or physicians can call and ask for test results or interpretations from pathologists.

Maharjan also visited the well-structured and well-equipped First Central Hospital of Mongolia, where she noticed a tight-knit community among the laboratory’s scientists.

Overall, Maharjan found that Mongolian laboratories and laboratorians are working diligently towards improving their country’s healthcare and are dedicated to producing accurate results for their patients. The joint workshop allowed APWG team members to gain a crucial understanding of about laboratory medicine in Mongolia, while also learning about future innovations and where ADLM and the Mongolian Association of Health Laboratorians can go from here.