International Medical Student Exchange (IMSE)

The International Medical Student Exchange (IMSE) is a supplement to IHOP/IHE, and aims to train the host countries' local professionals and ensure long term benefit to the host sites. IMSE also aims to provide further enthusiasm for foreign sites to continue providing UWSOM students with excellent experiences. Sites agree to accept our students with the knowledge that their students would benefit in return.

Bruce Ferguson, Henry Njuguna, Dr. Paul Ramsey, James Mbuvi, Celine Gounder '04, Carolyn Hettrich '04, Dr. Dan Hunt	Henry Njuguna and James Mbuvi (Fall 2003 participants from Kenya)

This is collaboration with the International AIDS Research and Training Program (IARTP), a program funded by the Fogarty International Center at the US National Institutes of Health. For the last 15 years, the IARTP has collaborated with the University of Nairobi's Departments of Microbiology, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics/Gynecology to promote international collaborative research and training in the prevention of HIV transmission.

The University of Washington IARTP has done this by training investigators from these and other departments in epidemiology, biostatistics, biomedical ethics, and the basic sciences. In total, the program has trained over forty Kenyan researchers. Currently, eleven are in the course of completing degree programs or advanced in-country training and four US scholars are conducting projects in Nairobi.

Training for the international students will be broad to accommodate the needs and interests of medical students, however, there will be an emphasis on HIV/AIDS. Training in the clinical care of HIV-infected patients will occur during rotations in outpatient clinics and during a month on the inpatient infectious disease consult service at a Seattle area hospital. Two courses in the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health's Department of Epidemiology will provide the student with a foundation in epidemiology, basic research methods, and current HIV/AIDS knowledge. Students will audit "Introduction to Epidemiology" and "AIDS: A Multidisciplinary Approach." The former is a basic graduate level course in epidemiological methods and the latter is a seminar offering lectures by UW experts in a wide variety of fields. This course provides a broad and up-to-date overview of major issues in HIV/AIDS care, public health concerns, and important areas of research. Additional requirements for the trainees include attendance at University of Washington clinical and research conferences, including a monthly IARTP trainee meeting. Students will also meet with the IARTP Director to assess progress on a monthly basis.

Past Participant Evaluations

James Mbuvi

Henry Njenga Njuguna published a paper in Kenya on use of ARVs in resource poor settings

Objectives

1. Provide educational opportunities to students from host countries which will
   * Train their local providers in HIV research and care
   * Exposure to epidemiology
   * Provide clinical training
   * Create further enthusiasm from host country faculty and investigators for UWSOM students
   
2. Provide exposure to UW students and faculty so that they have experience working with foreign students, and learning some aspects of foreign culture and medical care
   
3. To develop long-term relationships with international sites
   
4. To provide site support
   * Journals and textbooks
   * Computers and other equipment

2003 Budget per IMSE participant:

Henry Njuguna, Paul Drain E-02, Ashok Reddy E-02	Ashok Reddy E-02, Kerry Breit, Francis Nijiri, Katrine Lofberg E-02, James Mbuvi, Rahul Shendure, Henry Njuguna, Paul Drain E-02, Erika Schroeder E-02