SCHOOL OF MEDICINE INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

  1. Summary
  2. Progress To Date
  3. Faculty
  4. Proposed New Programs
  5. Time Frame For Proposed New Programs
  6. Conclusion

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    I. SUMMARY

    The School of Medicine presently has numerous courses and programs with an international focus. The faculty and Dean of the School are strongly positive about expanding these programs and offer in this report an overview of present and projected activities. They do so in the belief that the University has a moral responsibility to foster academic, international, inter-institutional relationships to promote the scholarship, teaching and service needed to apply new knowledge to the betterment of planetary life, and that the faculty would derive personal satisfaction from such activity.

    Within this context, the School has several concerns relating to their ability to expand international programming. These include the possibilities of inadequate seed funding, the creation of an overly ambitious, restrictive, controlling interdisciplinary program and that diversion of institutional funds to this enterprise will undermine existing academic priorities.

    CURRENT STRENGTHS, GOALS AND STRATEGIES

    Strengths

    The strengths of the School of Medicine's international programming lie in its diversity as well as the international client base of the Medical Center. As listed in Appendix A, the School conducts programs in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and New Zealand. Indeed, the breadth and depth of these programs makes the School a University leader in international activities.

    In addition, the client base of TUMC not only generates considerable revenue for the School, but both reflects and advances Tulane's international reputation in health care and research. A listing of TUMC's international patients and revenue is listed in Appendix B. An additional strength of the School is the faculty's demonstrated interest in and commitment to international activity. The combination of these factors gives the School a considerable comparative advantage in international programming both within the university and also in relation to other universities.

    Goals

    1. To increase the quality and diversity of international programs among all departments and programs.
    2. To improve the health of the citizens of Louisiana and the United States.
    3. To enhance the contribution of the School of Medicine to the solution of worldwide health problems.
    These goals apply to all efforts in research, teaching and service.
    To reach these goals the following objectives ought to be met:
    1. Improvement in interdisciplinary communication within the Medical School, Medical Center and University about international medical opportunities.
    2. Expansion of knowledge about international health among faculty members.
    3. Encouragement of faculty members to enter the field of international health.
    4. Introduction of international health issues into the curricula of medical students, graduate students, house officers and fellows.
    5. Improvement in support and encouragement of visiting scholars from all stages and aspects of medical sciences education.
    6. Creation of career opportunities in international health.
    7. Augmentation of fund raising.
    8. Improvement in communication of the medical school's activities in international health to national and international schools, and to programs and agencies involved in the field.
    9. To work with program directors to introduce aspects of international health into their courses.
    10. To improve access to the combined MD/MPH&TM degree for medical students while improving access to medical school courses for MPH, DrPH and related degree candidates.
    11. To improve access for medical students to the short course in tropical medicine offered by SPH&TM.
    12. To provide better academic and financial support for medical students between their first and second years to experience medical scholarship and practice in other countries.
    13. To provide faculty member counselors to those students at the medical center who are interested in international health.
    14. To create a graduate career track in international health in the primary care specialties (general internal medicine, general pediatrics) and General Preventive Medicine Residency.
    15. To work in concert with the Office of Student Services and existing programs and promote exchange programs to encourage foreign scholars at all levels of education to come to the medical center for short and long term stays.
    16. To provide support and encouragement for faculty members who wish scholarly opportunities in other countries.
    17. To create a centralized information gathering and disseminating service for all students and scholars in the medical school
    18. To create newsletters for intra and inter institutional use to inform about medical center activity in international health.
    19. To create a forum for the students and programs of the University to discuss international health initiatives and avenues for cooperation.
    20. To create a regular international health seminar day for the medical school, and provide for regular Dean's Hour international health presentations in conjunction with AMSA, SARA, SNMA, etc.
    21. To develop extramural funding sources for all international health activities by developing new relationships with areas of the world considered strategic by the federal government (National Security Education Program) by working locally and with international business interests.

    II PROGRESS TO DATE

    These initiatives are presently under consideration for funding as part of the proposed Center for International Medicine, discussed in section VI. At the time of writing this report, no progress towards the creation of the center has been realized.

    III FACULTY

    The faculty of the School of Medicine are deeply committed to international programs. This commitment is reflected in the classes they teach, and the research and programs that they conduct abroad.

    IV PROPOSED NEW PROGRAMS

    To facilitate these goals, we propose the creation of a Center for International Medicine. The Director will be supported by a part-time assistant administrator and a full-time secretary. In that this enterprise will be interdisciplinary such a centralizing force will be needed to create an orderly goal oriented array of the diverse interests. An interdisciplinary coordinating committee will be formed to aid in steering the new program.

    V TIME FRAME FOR PROPOSED NEW PROGRAMS

    Year 1

    Year 2

    Year 3

    Year 4

    It is estimated that about $250,000 will be needed to initiate the program. This will pay for 50% of the Director's salary, a part-time administrator (40%), an administrative secretary, a computer with printing capacity, office furniture, supplies and telephone. Additional office space will also be required (400-600 square feet).

    An additional $150,000 will be needed during the second year to serve as seed monies for participating faculty, to support students (especially rising second years) and to begin a newsletter.

    It is hoped that by the third year expenses will be met by using institutional funds and by securing extramural funding. It may be that several summer fellowships offered by the Center for Latin American Studies could be sought more aggressively by rising second year and fourth year students. There exist several extramural granting sources for student (Attachement 3) and faculty (John E. Fogarty Center) activities which can be more efficiently pursued. Finally, several federal grants are available.

    VI CONCLUSION

    The committee agrees that an international programs initiative is desirable, if not long overdue. This conclusion is founded on the knowledge of the University's record of successful involvement, a lingering reputation based on those achievements, the educational and research benefits to be derived from cross-cultural fertilization and a belief that because our human membership is global, this university's justification for existence is founded on service to that community.

    The committee also agrees that while the initiative, ultimately, ought to be a coordinated university-wide endeavor, initially our organizational authority ought to be limited to the medical school, followed shortly thereafter by the creation of an active coordinating structure within the medical center.

    It is further recommended that because the effort must be interdisciplinary, that an over-arching mechanism be established (Center for International Medicine) to coordinate an aggressive policy based on the enumerated strategies to meet the program objectives within the designated time frame.

    Click here to see the Appendix. 

    Tulane University Medical Center
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Program in Community Medicine SLl4
1430 Tulane Avenue
New Orleans. Louisiana 70112-2699
(5O4) 588-5571
(504) 586-3801 FAX

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