Dr. Kendall Ho, of Continuing Professional Development and Knowledge Translation, University of British Columbia, Canada opened the symposium with his main point of the social accountability of Medical Schools and health care professionals. "Rather than separate molecules, (we should) align ourselves", he said, in illustration of the need for cooperation. Medical Schools must educate health professionals competent in clinical practice and research, Dr. Ho said. He also discussed the International Campaign in Revitalizing Academic Medicine (ICRAM), which works on knowledge translation, alliance with private partnership, private sector funding and intrinsic difficulties. "The ICRAM aims to fast track academic medical training" Dr Ho stated. The discussion continued with the question "How can academia best contribute?". Dr. Ho's answer was through education, advocacy, networking and partnerships, research and innovation and translating knowledge into practice. His closing statement reiterated the fact that "health professionals need to participate optimally and academic bodies need to be effective agents of change".
Dr. Gervasoni MD, MSc, of the Unit for Cardiovascular Disease and Epidemiological Transition of the Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive Lausanne (IUMSP) and the Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland, reported on tropEd: a network of European institutions for higher education in international health. Dr. Gervasoni spoke on the content, purpose and structure of the tropEd Masters Programme. The mobility of teachers and students coming through the programme is paramount to its success and purpose, said Dr. Gervasoni. He spent some time on the structure of the programme and the added bonus of graduates receiving tropEd recognition from their home institution. "Currently there are 250 students enrolled in the Masters programme with 50 graduates", Dr. Gervasoni stated. A Forum participant reported that he was a recent graduate of the programme and that he found it to be beneficial in networking, exchanging ideas and creating new contacts all over the world.
Mr. Lo Casto, from France (commented by Elisabeth Leforestier), explained the purpose and goal of ESTHER: to strengthen and develop the capacities of hospitals and to improve comprehensive medical, psychological and social care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Mr. Lo Casto focused on the international partners of the programme including the World Health Organization (WHO) and GIP ESTHER; on the Framework Agreement of 25th October 2004 and the joint declaration by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. ESTHER is used in French hospitals and addresses the difficulties that may be faced, including hospital culture, deployment, duration, management and evaluation of projects as just a few stated. During the discussion period, one person asked about the motivation for the collaboration of the hospitals. Ms. Leforestier answered that though there are three partnerships in Asia, Africa and Latin America in 15 countries, the appointment of the right team of medical staff is of great importance.
A final point, raised by a participant at the close of the discussions, was the issue of E-learning. All the speakers agreed that E-Learning is the way of the future in bringing information and knowledge to the public and medical professionals.
The information presented in this symposium and the questions asked by both the speakers and the participants clarified some issues for audience members including how hospital and academic networking is achieved.
