APGO’s Global Reach: The APGO International Scholarship Program
Last year, Timothy R.B. Johnson, MD, of the University of Michigan, took the $10,000 in award funds he received as the 2012 APGO Lifetime Achievement Award to fund three international faculty members to attend the 2013 APGO Martin L. Stone, MD, Faculty Development Seminar in Maui, Hawaii. A call was sent out to the membership requesting nominations for international educators affiliated with member institutions. Daniel Murokora, MD (Uganda), David Kolbilla, MB ChB, MS, FWACS (Ghana), and Joseph Amoah Adu, BSc, MB ChB, MGCS (Ghana) were selected to participate in the seminar and to lead a panel discussion with Maya M. Hammoud, MD, also of the University of Michigan (all pictured below left), on on global women’s health education.
The program was a huge success. The scholarships allowed three academic physicians from underdeveloped countries to attend faculty development workshops delivered by the leading educators in women’s health and learn tips, tricks and tools to improve women’s health care in their respective institutions. Of his experience at the seminar, Doctor Murokora writes:
Since the APGO conference, I have used the lessons and materials I received at the APGO Conference to improve the in-service mentorship that we currently implement in the Saving Mothers’ Giving Life Project. We’re reviewing and incorporating the planning aspect as well as the measurement aspect.
By engaging international educators, providing them with cutting-edge resources and connecting them with the best educators in the country, the program succeeded in extending APGO’s reach to the far corners of the globe, fulfilling our mission of improving health care for women everywhere. But it did something more: it gave APGO members attending the conference the opportunity to learn about academic medicine, health care, and the state of women’s health in underserved countries. Though the scholarship may only enable a handfull of international educators to attend our meetings each year, the goal is that they, in turn, inspire our members to continue to improve women’s health through education, whether here in the United States or abroad. That’s where the global mission comes full circle.
This year, the APGO International Scholarship Program continues. We have invited our members to nominate international faculty in underserved Latin American countries to attend the 2014 APGO Martin L. Stone, MD, Faculty Development Seminar in Manalapan, Florida. Nominating department and institution members will be notified of the status of their nomination no later than July 16. Thank you for helping us broaden our global reach and improve women’s health care for women everywhere!