... Justice is a medical student in rural Kenya. He wants to join the fight against HIV but in order to learn from the best he has to leave his home country and study in the UK or the USA. He may never return.
... Ching is a student doctor in China. When she qualifies she wants to be able to apply her profession internationally.
... Roma is studying at a traditional medical school in the USA. She wants to specialise in breast cancer and while her school takes a particular line, she knows that leading medical schools elsewhere in the world have a range of approaches to the subject.
... James is a GP in a local health centre in Kirriemuir. He wants to develop his skills in treating high blood pressure but he can't find the time to travel to lectures in the nearest teaching hospital.
The above scenarios are typical of those who stand to benefit from the creation of the world's first international virtual medical schools (IVIMEDS) which this week (13-14 June) takes a significant step closer to reality when representatives of over 50 medical institutes from Australia to the USA gather in Scotland to firm up their plans.
The Scots-led initiative aims to provide tomorrow's health professionals with access to the best of international expertise across the range of specialisms wherever and whenever they choose to train. Treatments and technologies in medicine are advancing at a pace which widescale training and education struggles to match. By pooling their specialist knowledge and coupling it with the opportunities afforded by new technology, the collaborating institutions believe IVIMEDS could offer a radical solution.
Sir Alan Langlands, Principal of the University of Dundee, and former chief executive of the NHS in England will deliver the opening address. He believes the partners are on the threshold of a new global style of medical education.
"The concept of an international virtual medical school is a very exciting development with enormous potential to benefit patients in both developing and developed countries through giving health professionals easy and flexible access to the best medical expertise in the world, no matter where they are based. We are enormously encouraged by the overwhelming international response to the project and delighted to see so many of the world's leading medical schools and institutions gather in Scotland to take it to the next stage."
It is the first time so many of the world's leading health educators have collaborated in such a venture. The list of partners includes Harvard Medical International, Mayo Clinic Medical School, Miami medical schools and other universities in the USA and Canada, universities in Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, South America, Bahrain and the UK including Scotland's five medical schools as well as the new NHS university and E-learning representatives.
Discussions between the collaborators have so-far largely been web-based but over the two days of meetings and workshops, based at the St Andrews Bay Hotel, the 100 delegates hope to lay the foundations for the future medical school.
Following the opening address will be presentations by leading international medical educators Professor Ian Hart from Ottawa on the value of IVIMEDS and leading international medical educator Professor Ronald Harden Director of the Centre for Medical Education at the University of Dundee on how it might be implemented.
Sessions on assessment will be delivered by The National Board of Medical Examiners and on a business plan by Donald Clark, CEO Epic Group plc. Epic is a leading e-learning company in the UK, which for nearly 20 years has produced a wide range of interactive learning solutions for both the training and education sectors.
Discussion groups will then tackle a range of key aspects before meeting the following day under the chairmanship of Sir Alan for further sessions on e-learning by a range of specialists including Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri who will talk about simulation, Graham Buckley from NHS Education for Scotland, Tom Little of the E-University, and Professor Margaret Alexander a leading international nurse educator who will address nursing and IVIMEDS.
The international meeting of collaborators concludes a feasibility study into the establishment of the virtual medical school funded by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, Scottish Knowledge, Scottish Enterprise and NHS Education for Scotland.
The delegates, who will fly in to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee airports, will not go home without some experience of Scotland beyond the workshop. On Thursday evening they will attend a banquet at Glamis Castle.
Notes for editors
For pictures, interviews and further information on IVIMEDS contact
Carol Pope,
Head of Press & Publications,
University of Dundee
01382 344021
c.l.e.pope@dundee.ac.uk
fax 01382 345515