Congress in Greece will examine latest advances in cancer research, care

Partnership will bring new medical, nursing schools to Philippines

Meeting to provide international perspective on pediatric intensive care

Exchange students from Taiwan get firsthand look at U.S. medicine

Conference offers forum on health care industry in Greece

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Congress in Greece will examine latest advances in cancer research, care

Hygeia Hospital, in partnership with HMI, will host a medical congress entitled “Cancer: Present Advances and Future Perspectives” in Athens, Greece June 11-13. In light of recent discoveries about the underlying biology of cancer and treatment approaches, Hygeia, which has a large proportion of cancer patients, is committed to keeping physicians up to date with the latest scientific advances. HMI faculty will present on a variety of topics relating to cancer at the Congress, with the keynote lecture given by Dr. Lowell Schnipper, Theodore and Evelyn Berenson professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, entitled “The Biology of Cancer: From the Bench to the Bedside.” Other topics on the agenda include ethics, new advancements in treatment, genomics and cancer, minimally invasive surgery, as well as treatment of specific cancer types. Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, Harvard Medical School professor of medicine and New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) editor-in-chief will present a lecture on publishing in the NEJM. For further information, please contact Dr. Sharon Kleefield or Dr. Dimitrios Linos.

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Partnership will bring new medical, nursing schools to Philippines

Dr. Amable Aguiluz V, Chairman and Founder of the AMA Education Systems, shakes hands with Dr. Robert Crone, HMI’s president and CEO.

HMI signed a five-year agreement in March with AMA Education Systems in the Philippines to provide strategic input in the organization’s efforts to develop an academic medical center that will eventually comprise a medical school, a nursing school, and clinical facilities. AMA is a private university founded in 1980 as the first computer college in the Philippines, with the goal of bringing knowledge and training about information technology to the region. The school now has expanded its educational programs to include telecommunications, business and accounting, and nursing schools, and has 200 campuses with a total of 150,000 students. AMA will be able to draw upon its impressive IT infrastructure as it creates nursing and medical education programs for the new medical center, including distance learning programs. HMI will assist in the creation of curricula, facilities, and clinical and faculty development programs.

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Meeting to provide international perspective on pediatric intensive care

On June 8-12, 2003, the Children's Hospital of Boston, in conjunction with HMI, will present the fourth World Congress on Pediatric Intensive Care. As the only international conference focusing on pediatric critical care issues, the roster of speakers is an impressive array of leading clinicians and researchers from nearly 20 countries. "This meeting will be of enormous benefit to anyone in the field of pediatric intensive care,” said Dr. Robert Truog, professor of anaesthesia (pediatrics) at Harvard Medical School and congress chairman. “It's an opportunity to, in one trip, hear and meet all the leaders of many aspects of critical care that they don't have the opportunity to meet at regional or national meetings." An important goal of the conference is to share knowledge and expertise to help raise awareness of the needs of children globally. "There is a wide variability in practices relating to many aspects of pediatric critical care, especially around decision making, ethical standards, and approaches to withdrawal of life support,” Truog said. “While emerging technologies play a role, part of this is also due to the fact that, in many parts of the world, care of children has lagged because of lack of financial and political support.” Truog added that this meeting is an important opportunity for people who care for critically ill children to address these problems and work together to increase awareness and support of their field. The conference convenes only every four years; the next session will take place in Geneva in 2007. For registration and further information, visit the conference website.

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Exchange students from Taiwan get firsthand look at U.S. medicine

This year’s students from NTUCM visited HMI’s offices at the beginning of their stay in Boston. From left to right: Tuoh Wu, Sheng-Han Kuo, Chih-yun Lin, and Yu-Chen Tsai.

Four students from National Taiwan University College of Medicine (NTUCM) will spend April and May in Boston participating in clerkships at Harvard-affiliated hospitals. Chih-yun Lin will participate in clinical cardiology and neurosurgery clerkships, both at Children’s Hospital. Sheng-Han Kuo will complete two neurology clerkships, one at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and one at Massachusetts General Hospital. Yu-Chen Tsai will complete a rotation in ambulatory pediatrics at Children’s Hospital and will return in June for another clerkship. And Tuoh Wu will participate in clerkships on clinical infectious disease and emergency care at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The program is part of a reciprocal exchange between Harvard Medical School (HMS) and NTUCM. The exchange is prized by NTUCM students who apply for a chance to study abroad at one of ten different schools in the U.S. during their fifth year of medical school. The exchange is equally popular among students at HMS, many of whom are of Chinese descent and would like the chance to study medicine firsthand in Taiwan. More than just allowing students a chance to learn clinical medicine in a different place and setting, the exchange aims to bring a better understanding of the differences in the health care systems in Taiwan and the United States. Last year’s students from both schools offered their impressions of the exchange in an article in HMI World.

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Conference offers forum on health care industry in Greece

At HealthWorld 2003, Dr. Harvey Makadon of HMI greets Dr. Konstantinos Stefanis, minister of health and welfare of Greece.

HMI provided educational support for HealthWorld 2003, an event sponsored by the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Health and Welfare. The conference brought together the public and private sectors of the Greek medical community in order to discuss with governmental representatives their concerns on issues in the health care industry. The event, which took place in Athens, Greece Mar. 31-April 1, focused on four specialized topic areas: biosecurity and public health, disaster planning, healthy aging, and smart drugs.

HMI coordinated presentations by Harvard faculty members in each of these areas, designed to keep participants abreast of technological developments in industry as well as recent achievements in international medical research. Participating faculty were: Dr. Stephen Calderwood, Harvard Medical School (HMS) professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital; Dr. Terence Keane, HMS professor of psychiatry at VA Medical Center; Dr. Harvey Makadon, HMI director of health systems and HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Dr. Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, assistant professor of public policy at the JFK School of Government at Harvard; Dr. Edward O’Rourke, an HMI director and HMS assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital; and Dr. Beverly Woo, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The conference program is available in PDF format.

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