Defining a Global Future for ACCP Chest Medicine Education
By: David D. Gutterman | September 24, 2012
In this, my final blog as Immediate Past-President, I want to explore the vast opportunity for pursuing the mission of the ACCP beyond North America. The College has been active in international education for years, but over the past 2 years, a global education plan has germinated that focuses our efforts to strategically take advantage of our successful domestic programs. The goal is to bring regionally relevant education outside of North America, supporting local chest societies and their members. Four major elements galvanized the success of this strategy.
1. Mark J. Rosen, MD, FCCP, and the Global Education Staff. The College took a bold step last year in revamping how international educational opportunities are developed. Dr. Rosen, an ACCP Past President, joined the College as Director of Global Education and Strategic Development, and Mark Nagasawa joined the staff of this new department. Our international outreach is focused on specific educational needs of each region or country, resulting in diverse and successful activities around the world. In the last year, ACCP conducted or participated in programs in China, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and South America. Future programs could include participation by ACCP NetWorks, committees, simulation staff, and the e-Community to provide a wide array of educational opportunities.
2. Local Leaders who advocate for ACCP. Even with the best of staff and programs, global outreach depends critically on local leaders, and the College has many. In the last year, Panagiotis Behrakis, MD, FCCP, Chair of the Council of Global Governors, led the organization of an ACCP-Hellenic Thoracic Society “Board Review” course in Athens; Paraschiva Postalache MD, FCCP, and Vice-Chair of the Council hosted a conference on pulmonary rehabilitation, sleep apnea, and mechanical ventilation, in Lasi, Romania, and achieved national publicity for ACCP with radio and television interviews that promoted lung health; Hector DiFranchi, MD, FCCP, along with the ACCP Governors in Argentina, has generated enthusiastic local support to recruit ACCP members and to include ACCP educational offerings within their annual meeting. In Saudi Arabia, Islam Ibrahim, MD, FCCP, organized a major conference at the International Medical Center in Jeddah, while Hani Lababidi, MD, FCCP, brought ACCP simulation activities and “Train-the-Trainer” programs to Riyadh. Israel Priel, MD, FCCP, an ACCP Regent in Israel, hosted an ACCP-Israeli Pulmonary Society conference with attendance by two-thirds of all Israeli pulmonary specialists. I was particularly impressed by the presentations of Israeli scientists who demonstrated novel uses of ultrasound in the diagnosis of lung diseases, and analysis of exhaled breath in the detection of lung cancer. Sanjeev Mehta, MD, FCCP, orchestrated several successful educational programs for Indian physicians from throughout the country, creating a new and successful paradigm in collaborative educational programming. Finally, several distinct programs were conducted by ACCP in China thanks to the efforts of Renli Qiao, MD, FCCP (University of Southern California); Baiqiang Cai MD, FCCP; and Chunxue Bai, MD, FCCP. Through their efforts, successful ACCP programs were organized in Beijing and Shanghai over 3 years. Chen Wang, MD, FCCP, has been a critical partner in China and has invited ACCP participation in the China Thoracic Society meeting in Chengdu this year.
3. CHEST World Congress, 2014. International efforts need focus, and our members and leaders should have the opportunity to participate in ACCP education closer to home. This is the part of the impetus for a CHEST World Congress to be conducted somewhere outside North America around every 2 years. The first meeting will be in Madrid, Spain, in March 2014. This and future programs provide the opportunity for global ACCP leaders to engage directly in developing an ACCP global meeting, inviting their local and regional colleagues to attend, and expanding and enhancing their own roles in the College.
4. Reorganization of global leadership. In August, the ACCP Board of Regents voted to adopt a change in the structure of the global leadership of ACCP. The new system will be representative, participatory, and accountable. Governors in the new system will be given specific responsibilities and opportunities. They will also have defined expectations with regular assessment of productivity and support where needed. The global leadership will be involved and engaged at a high level. More will be unveiled as the system goes into “full production” in the coming year.
Combined, these four elements drive a new vision in global chest education. Coming off of early success in India and the Middle East, and with the early excitement over the CHEST World Congress in Madrid, we are poised to take our successful educational platforms to our growing global membership and other interested clinicians.
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