Ohio State cancer doctors are taking their expertise to Ethiopia to help prevent lymphoma through a program focused on treatment, vaccination and education. The Global One Health Initiative (GOHi) is an interdisciplinary program that connects Ohio State experts with health care professionals, students and community members around the world to address the spread of disease and promote overall health. As part of the GOHi, Ohio State hematologists are partnering with colleagues in Ethiopia on research into malaria and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which have contributed to an increase in lymphoma diagnoses in the country. “Lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells, is far more common in Sub-Saharan Africa, and afflicts people at a younger age” said Robert Baiocchi, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and blood cancer specialist at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). Baiocchi shares more details about his work to prevent and treat lymphoma around the globe on our Cancer-Free World Podcast. Watch on the video player above, or listen via Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud. Initially, Baiocchi’s team teamed up with colleagues in the Ethiopian capital to determine why the lymphoma rate had risen so significantly. “Starting in 2015 we opened a lab in Addis Ababa to study these viruses and how they cause cancers,” Baiocchi says. “We’re zeroing in on a couple of interesting findings — children who get malaria and EBV, that seems to be the perfect storm for lymphoma.” Differences in genetic makeup of EBV could be another factor in the increased lymphoma rates in Ethiopia, which led to a focus on more targeted vaccines. “Studies tell us the virus here in the U.S. is different from the viruses in Ethiopia and the vaccines we use here won’t work there,” he says. “It’s important to understand the genetic makeup of EBV in order to develop a vaccine that will be effective in that region.” For patients who develop lymphoma, Baiocchi and his OSUCCC – James team are working on innovative treatments and techniques that could be distributed in Ethiopia and other nations. “We developed a treatment here that we’re interested in forward into clinical trials in combination with other agents and offering this to patient populations in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Baiocchi says. “Discoveries that happen here that might be very impactful in different regions of the world and really benefit a lot of people.” Click here to learn more about lymphoma, including risks, symptoms and treatment options at The Ohio State University.