In this issue:

  Practi-Med programs in India and China to bring latest advances to local physicians

  HMI-DHCC collaboration is recognized at major Gulf Region conference

  Leadership and teaching are focus of two workshops hosted by Sri Ramachandra

  Conference shows New England medical students how to go global

  HMI academic tourism program to offer look at China’s changing health care system

Practi-Med programs in India and China to bring latest advances to local physicians
Upcoming Practi-Med programs in Chennai (India) and Shanghai (China) will feature lectures, case presentations, and small-group discussions on a range of health care topics led by a distinguished faculty of practicing physicians and educators affiliated with Harvard Medical School (HMS).

Practi-Med Chennai will be held March 13-14 on the campus of the Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute (SRMC-RI). A collaboration of Harvard Medical International (HMI), SRMC-RI, and the New England Journal of Medicine, the program is sponsored by the Medical Council of India. In addition to lectures and case discussions, the program will begin each day with “Breakfast with the Professor,” an opportunity for attendees to meet the program faculty in interactive, small-group environments and discuss how to address issues such as cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, dyslipidemias, and depression in the primary care setting.

Among the faculty from Harvard-affiliated institutions are Dr. Lowell E. Schnipper, HMS professor of medicine and chief of the hematology/oncology division of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, HMS professor of medicine and editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine; and Dr. Richard Pasternak, associate professor of medicine at HMS and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Practi-Med Chennai comes at a time when SRMC-RI is undertaking a number of ambitious initiatives aimed at making the school a regional center of excellence for medical education. For more information about Practi-Med Chennai, visit the program website at www.practi-med.com/chennai.

Hua Shan Hospital (HSH) and HMI will present Practi-Med Shanghai, held May 7-9 at the Portman Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai. Hua Shan Hospital and HMI have organized the event in conjunction with the New England Journal of Medicine and the China Medical Tribune.

The three-day program will provide updates on common medical conditions encountered in outpatient practice, including cardiac disease, depression, asthma, pregnancy, and infectious disease. Practi-Med Shanghai will also explore innovations in health care systems, focusing on applying new medical technologies, insuring patient safety and quality of care, and developing the community infrastructure to support public health initiatives.

Among the program faculty from Harvard-affiliated institutions, in addition to Dr. Drazen, are Dr. Thomas Lee, HMS associate professor of medicine and associate editor of the New England Journal of Medicine; Dr. Beverly Woo, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Dr. David Rattner, HMS professor of surgery and chief of the Department of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital.

Practi-Med Shanghai is one of the first education programs resulting from the partnership between HMI and Hua Shan Hospital. The partners are currently working to design and develop a center for excellence in oncology in Pudong, and have also agreed to collaborate on the development of a general medical surgical hospital in Nanchung. Continuing medical education is a key element of the health care system being developed around these new facilities.

“ We believe that Practi-Med Shanghai will be a great opportunity for the medical professionals to have a direct dialogue with the professors from Harvard,” said Dr. Feng Xiao-Yuan, vice president of Hua Shan Hospital. “The program will bring useful information and experience that Chinese physicians can use to benefit from the rapid advancement of the science and technology and translate into their daily practice for the well-being of patients.”

Dr. Harvey Makadon, HMI vice president of health systems and the architect of the Practi-Med concept, said that one of the program’s key strengths is its adaptability to local needs and practices. “HMI works closely with both the Harvard-affiliated faculty and the health care leadership at our partner institutions to design programs that are the most relevant and helpful to the local audiences.” Makadon, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will be a featured presenter at both events.

For more information, visit the program website at www.practi-med.com/shanghai. Those participating in the conferences will be awarded a “Certificate of Attendance” from Harvard Medical International. To date, the Practi-Med program has been delivered in Brazil, Japan, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

HMI-DHCC collaboration is recognized at major Gulf Region conference
The development of Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) in the United Arab Emirates continues to generate excitement in the Middle East. In January, DHCC was a featured exhibitor at Arab Health 2004, the largest health care exhibition and conference in the region, attracting 25,000 delegates. At the conference’s completion, DHCC was recognized with a Middle East Arab Health award for “Best Use of International Health Partnerships” for its continued collaboration with Harvard Medical International aimed at enhancing the quality of health care delivery in the region. As DHCC works to bring together a diversity of local and international health care providers to collocate in the planned health care complex, HMI has been helping to develop a quality infrastructure for the entire site, in addition to education programs designed to make lifelong learning a fundamental pillar of DHCC.

As one of the first steps toward making Dubai a regional leader in medical education, HMI and DHCC have established a postgraduate training program. The aim of the program is to advance the professional and academic careers of a cadre of physician specialists and researchers who will constitute the professional workforce and intellectual resources of Dubai Healthcare City. The first phase of this effort focuses on training specialists through clinical and research fellowships and short-term observerships at Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals in the Boston area. Ultimately the program will be based in Dubai Healthcare City. For more information, visit the DHCC website at www.dhcc.ae.

Leadership and teaching are focus of two workshops hosted by Sri Ramachandra
Since 1997, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute (SRMC-RI) in Chennai has partnered with HMI to enhance the school’s academic programs, drive faculty development initiatives, and support student exchanges between SRMC-RI and Harvard Medical School. In January, Dr. Tom Aretz and Dr. Elizabeth Armstrong of HMI led two distinct workshops designed to help leaders in Indian medical education meet an ambitious goal—to prepare doctors who are both responsive to local needs and competitive in the global health care community.

The first one-day workshop was held for academic leaders in the Chennai area who are responsible for introducing and managing significant departmental changes or innovations in their institutions. Forty deans, chairpersons, curriculum developers, and department heads gathered to learn how to develop effective strategies for leading change. Using classical management studies and case studies of medical education reform, Aretz and Armstrong helped the participants to analyze the different forces at work in their organizations, understand the concept of team-building, and to form action plans for moving forward with necessary changes.

The first one-day workshop was held for academic leaders in the Chennai area.

The leadership program was conducted in association with the Medical Council of India (MCI). In a keynote address, Dr. Ketan Desai, chairman of MCI’s Regulations Committee, said, “An important objective of this workshop is the transformation of administrators and managers into leaders who will have the vision and drive to lead change, the magnanimity and selflessness to work across barriers, and the credibility and ethical values to take people along with him or her.”

The program was closely modeled on the approach used in the Harvard Macy Institute’s Program for Leaders in Medical Education. One of the program’s strengths, according to Armstrong, who directs the Institute, is that the workshop activities are built around real issues being faced by the participants.

“This mix of leaders from Sri Ramachandra resulted in a very interactive program,” said Armstrong, HMI director of education programs. “Through a large-group case study, we were able to arrive at two core principles that will inform this group’s actions plans moving forward—first, the need to build teams, not only to drive change, but also related to the new team-oriented practice of health care delivery, and second, the difference between being a manager and being a leader, which will help these leaders assess what it is they do and how they do it.”

It is important, Armstrong said, that leaders understand that changes in medical education are closely related to potential impacts on the health care system, and innovations in teaching should address both the evolving demands of patients and the specific medical issues facing health care providers. “We encourage leaders in academic medical centers not only to look at the changes needed in their institutions, but also to respond to changes in the health care environment that challenge the school’s mission,” said Armstrong.

The faculty development workshop focused on tutoring, case-writing, and assessment.

The second workshop, held over the course of two days on the SRMC-RI campus, focused on developing tutoring, case-writing, and assessment skills. “SRMC-RI is in the midst of creating a competency-based medical education curriculum, with more emphasis on small-group tutorials, case teaching, and microteaching,” said Aretz, HMI vice president for education. “SRMC-RI is dedicated to becoming a regional center of excellence for medical education, and this workshop, which gathered educators from all over the region, is a great step in that direction. It was gratifying for myself and Dr. Armstrong to work with a group of people with such strong values and a real commitment to the task at hand.” Aretz added that HMI and SRMC-RI plan to make this an annual program.

Armstrong said that interactive faculty development workshops like these are successful because they place the faculty in the position of their students. “What we are trying to do through these exercises is challenge them to think about their teaching strategies—not only examining what they like or what works well, but also thinking about how their own beliefs and assumptions about how students learn inform and influence their teaching.”

Dr. Robert K. Crone, president and CEO of HMI, was also in Chennai to meet with SRMC-RI’s leadership and discuss the ongoing partnership. “This is truly a success story,” he said. “Sri Ramachandra has not only raised the quality of its programs in medical education and health care delivery, but they have also enhanced their standing by becoming a leader within the broader academic community of the Indian subcontinent.”

Conference shows New England medical students how to go global
Around 140 medical students from all of the medical schools in New England gathered in February for a one-day conference designed to introduce opportunities in international health. For the second year, Harvard Medical International served as co-host of this event, along with the Global Medicine Committee of the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS). The New England Regional International Health Medical Education Consortium (IHMEC) brings together both faculty and students to share their experiences working in the global health care community.

The keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Sheri Fink, a physician with the noted humanitarian aid organization International Medical Corps. Fink has written extensively about her experiences in the Balkans, north Caucasus, southern Africa, Central Asia, and Iraq. Her critically acclaimed book War Hospital recounts the struggles of a group of young physicians to cope and provide medical care in war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992.

In eight breakout workshops, physicians shared their experiences working abroad and discussed a diversity of challenges around the world, including refugee medicine at the Thai/Burmese border, epidemiology in Tibet, tuberculosis control in Kazakhstan, and malnutrition in Angola. The conference concluded with a panel discussion featuring seven students from New England region medical schools who have worked abroad.

Dr. Donna Staton of MMS talked about how students can prepare to work overseas, and was inspired by their interest and motivation. “More and more students are seeking medical electives abroad, and for those completing such rotations, the experience is often life-altering, and seems to help solidify a commitment to working with the poor, both here and abroad,” she said, adding that the conference provides students with “a unique opportunity to network with practicing physicians who have incorporated international health work into their careers in a wide variety of ways—short-term volunteer assignments, emergency relief, research, teaching abroad, and even missionary work.”

Dr. Paul Currier, who helped to coordinate the conference for HMI, said that this was the largest turnout for an IHMEC conference to date.

HMI academic tourism program to offer look at China’s changing health care system
Harvard Medical International (HMI), in conjunction with the Harvard University Alumni Association, will host “Health Care in China: Dialogues with Health Care Leaders,” a unique educational program designed to provide health care professionals and other interested parties with an insider’s view of the dramatic changes underway in China’s health care system. China’s health care system is undergoing a drastic alteration from government ownership and operation to private auspices, creating significant challenges to organization, financing, and access. Participants will learn about these dynamic changes in a series of candid, in-depth conversations with Chinese health care professionals, government officials, leaders in academic medicine, and patients and family members, as well as during visits to preeminent health care institutions in a variety of settings.

Interactive dialogues will include senior officials from the national Ministry of Health and the Chinese Medical Association, academics from the Peking Union Medical College, Beijing University Medical School, and Fudan University in Shanghai, as well as practitioners of contemporary and traditional medicine from clinical settings. Teaching hospitals in Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai offer visitors an overview of academic medicine as the entry point for new technology and advanced methods of care.

Participants will also have the opportunity to gain an appreciation of China’s rich traditions by visiting sites of cultural and historical significance, including Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall, and enjoy privileged access to the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian.

Health care professionals and policy makers, as well as those interested in the culture and systems of another country, are encouraged to participate. Physicians, dentists, nurses, administrators, trustees of health care institutions, and academics, both researchers and educators, will be enlightened and enriched by what they encounter.

The program is scheduled for September 7-20, 2004, and will be hosted by Dr. Robert K. Crone, president and CEO of HMI; Dr. Miles F. Shore, HMS professor of psychiatry; and Dr. Li Zhou, instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. For more information, please contact the Harvard Alumni Association at (800) 422-1636 or Academic Travel Abroad at (800) 556-7896.

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