Building Bridges

Harvard partnership brings med ed reform, improved care delivery to Vietnam

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A group of second-year medical students will be pioneering a new curriculum this fall, one developed by an international team of experts, including leaders in medical education from Harvard Medical School.

These HMS experts aren’t just sharing their expertise with students at Harvard. The future physicians are studying at Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, one of five medical schools in Vietnam participating in a partnership that aims to improve medical education and care delivery in Vietnam and that allows HMS to help health care flourish in resource-limited Vietnam.

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The curriculum reform effort is one of the latest programs developed by the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam (HAIVN), a collaboration between HMS, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women’s Hospital that has been working to improve health outcomes in Vietnam since 2003.

“This work is the latest product of the creative visioning, hard work and extreme dedication of faculty, staff, students and colleagues from both sides of the ocean who are committed to improving the health of the people of Vietnam,” said Lisa Cosimi, director of HAIVN and HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s.

HAIVN’s initial focus was on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, but the work has grown to include the prevention of new and emerging global pandemics, and includes efforts toward general reforms in medical education, clinical training, transnational research collaborations and comprehensive health system strengthening in Vietnam, said Todd Pollack, HAIVN country director and HMS assistant professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess.

“It’s exciting to be part of a team that includes students, teachers and researchers, community caregivers and national policymakers, as they all work together to improve the quality of life of the people of Vietnam,” said Pollack.

HAIVN has developed broad and deep collaborations in Vietnam, working with the national Ministry of Health and with many of the nation’s leading medical schools and hospitals, including Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy and the National Pediatric Hospital, as well as regional hospitals and community health networks in urban and rural communities across the country.

One key aspect of these new efforts is the IMPACT MED Alliance, a public-private partnership supported by a $7 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and $7 million in matching donations and in-kind support from international corporate partners in technology and health care industries over the next five years.

“I am most excited to see the products of this engagement in the months and years to come, whether they be in the advancement of medical knowledge, new medical training curricula or professional collaborations that will serve as a bridge across the ocean that separates us,” said David Golan, HMS dean for basic science and graduate education, in remarks at a ceremony to celebrate the launch of the alliance.

In addition to curriculum reform and teacher training, which will take advantage of the same kinds of modern pedagogical innovations and educational technology at the core of the Pathways curriculum at HMS, Cosimi said, the alliance will focus on strengthening efforts to control hospital-acquired infections and developing capacity to respond to emerging health threats.

HAIVN has also cultivated mentoring relationships between faculty in Vietnam and the U.S., trained faculty in new teaching and assessment methods and hosted exchange programs that bring Vietnamese faculty to Boston and Boston-based faculty to Vietnam. HMS-affiliated faculty members are collaborating with their Vietnamese colleagues to create solutions appropriate to the challenges faced by the Vietnamese health system.

HAIVN is helping to develop higher standards for medical education that will guarantee that all Vietnamese medical school graduates have the knowledge and skills needed to provide high-quality modern health care, Pollack and Cosimi said. New curriculum and teacher training initiatives encourage a shift from traditional lecture-style teacher-centered instruction to a more student-centered approach. The new models used in Vietnam will include more hands-on clinical training, so that when students graduate from medical school they’ll be better prepared to start practicing medicine immediately, Pollack and Cosimi said.

Leaders and colleagues from Vietnam and Boston celebrate the partnership. Image: David Baker, BIDMC.
Leaders and colleagues from Vietnam and Boston celebrate the partnership. Image: David Baker, BIDMC.

A ceremony and celebration for the signing of a memorandum of understanding outlining the shared goals of the partnership was held at HMS in July. Le Quang Cuong, vice minister of health in Vietnam, attended, as did other distinguished representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, hospitals and medical schools, along with leadership and colleagues from Beth Israel Deaconess, Brigham and Women's and HMS.

Faculty members and students interested in learning how they can participate can learn more here.