Dear Colleague,
The reception to the Lancet Commission Report as we present its findings and recommendations around the world has been positively energizing! Even when concerns are expressed, we often find through respectful discussion that we really aren't so far apart in beliefs.
For example, one of us (LC) engaged in an insightful exchange of letters with an esteemed Professor of Medicine at PUMC (Peking University Medical College), Yuan-Fang Chen, MD, who has graciously allowed us to publish this exchange on our website. PUMC was founded on Flexnerian ideals and she was concerned that in undertaking needed reforms, we'd be throwing out the Flexnerian "baby with the bath water." This allowed us to clarify that in fact we see current reform efforts as building upon the base of previous generations of reform. Health professional education must of course still be grounded in the medical sciences and values of the past, but needs to adapt to the challenges of the 21st century.
We have progress to report on global and national initiatives sparked by the Lancet Commission work, highlighted in stories below. The Asia Network is fine-tuning its survey instrument, which they recently piloted. Dr. Bernie Jones and the InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP) is already using their global network to garner participation of future leaders of medicine as well as the Sub-Saharan academies. And Harvard School of Public Health has launched a new initiative to develop a competency framework for new curricula.
We presented the Commission Report findings at a plenary panel and break-out session at the "2011 Global Health Conference: Advancing Health Equity in the 21st Century" in Montreal, Canada on 13-15 November. These sessions were very well received and in fact some participants rated our session as one of their favorites (see story below).
Stay tuned for an announcement next month of the global innovation collaboratives chosen by Dr. Patrick Kelley of the U.S. Institute of Medicine's Board on Global Health to be incubators of professional education reform. Four will be chosen from among the twelve proposals received.
You'll find more news, upcoming events, and follow-up activities on our website. There you will also find the Report and its translation into five other languages so far: Spanish, Portuguese, German, Chinese and Vietnamese.
With our best wishes for the New Year,
Julio Frenk, Dean, Harvard School of Public Health and Commission Co-chair
Lincoln Chen, President, China Medical Board and Commission Co-chair
