Kenya Medical Education Exchange

Background

The Indiana University (IU) cooperative exchange program with the Moi University School of Medicine, in Kenya, best typifies the kind of medical exchange that benefits both institutions. Indiana University has provided a full time on site faculty member at the Moi University for almost 20 years and has gradually increased the number of students, residents and faculty that rotate through their program.

The Experience

Indiana University has emphasized, from the start, that their service to Moi University is to provide teaching and not necessarily equipment or supplies. They have provided the opportunity for Moi University faculty and students to rotate through the training program in Indiana and its affiliates, which now includes, University of Utah, Brown University, Purdue University, Duke University, University of Toronto, and George Washington University.

Dr. Robert Einterz describes the program as remarkably successful with 90-95% of their participants reporting this as the best experience of their medical school or residency training. Lead by “retired” IU physician, Dr. Joe Mamlin, this program focuses on HIV/AIDS treatment, but extends to all areas of medical care and the program has broad reaching community health aspects as well.

Teams from University of Utah

The University of Utah School of Medicine has sent 10 internal medicine people per year (two faculty, four residents, and four students) since 2003. Some of the benefits from this program include:

• We are working with the physicians of the future for Kenya.
• We co-teach with faculty and residents from Kenya.
• We are helping to develop leadership and professionalism in the Moi University faculty as we work under their direction.
• Moi University students and faculty who have visited Indiana University and the University of Utah develop a broadened scope of how medicine is taught and practiced when more resources are available.

Participants from the University of Utah have reported:

• A greater appreciation for the opportunity to learn and practice medicine in the USA where resources are more available.
• A concern for the medical professionals and patients who work and live where there are limited medical resources.
• A better understanding of cultural differences that influence medical decision-making.
• An understanding that public health principles are an important part of health promotion. A few students have chosen to add a Masters of Public Health degree to their educational plans.
• A personal contact experience with common diseases in tropical AfricA including HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
• A confidence that comes with having to make decisions based on clinical findings with limited laboratory backup.

Additionally, participants in the program can take family with them and have done so when able. The program has also seen physicians, residents, and medical staff from other specialties elect to complete a rotation. Specialties that have participated include, Social Work, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, Physician Assistants, Psychiatry, Radiology, and Neurology.

As of May 2010 there have been 103 University of Utah participants in the Kenya Program.

The Kenya Medical Exchange Program Office accepts applications from residents and third-year medical students during winter for the following academic year. The Program notice with application will be sent via email.

Teams to University of Utah

While the majority of this program has been from the US to Eldoret, Indiana and its partners provide full scholarship support each year for selected Moi University students (16 per year) to take six-week electives in the US.

Program Director

DeVon C. Hale, M.D. Dr. Hale is the Medical Director of the International Travel Clinic at University Hospital and for pre-travel consultations at Salt Lake Valley, Davis, Wasatch, and Southwest Utah County Health Departments and the LDS Church’s Travel Clinic. Additionally, he is the Utah-site Principle Investigator for GeoSentinel, a worldwide disease surveillance project based out of the Centers for Disease Control.