Alumni Association Announces “Art of Medicine” Continuing Ed Conference

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  • SGU CME Welcome Dinner
  • 2nd annual CME Conference
  • St. George's University School of Medicine Alumni Association holds its second annual continuing medical education conference
  • Student researchers present their work to visiting alumni during the School of Medicine Alumni Association's continuing medical education conference
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The St. George’s University School of Medicine Alumni Association (SOMAA) invite SGU graduates and all medical professionals to its annual “Art of Medicine” continuing medical education (CME) conference in Grenada from March 9-12, 2020.

According to SOMAA President Bruce Bonanno, MD ’83, SOMAA president, its goal is to further harvest physicians’ passion for medicine, on the island that, for many, is where it all began.

“This conference welcomes doctors to reconnect with their profession, to build upon the foundation they’ve already created, and for SGU graduates, to get back to their roots,” said Dr. Bonanno, an emergency medicine physician based in New Jersey.

The four-day event features presentations from experts on a wide variety of fields, with several discussions led by SGU alumni. They include:

  •  “Hematologic Disease in Older People” – Shannon O’Connor, MD ’05
  • “Headache: It’s All In Your Head” – Paul Mathew, MD ’05
  • “Hypoxia – When Seconds Matter” – Pierre Moeser, MD ’83
  • “Maintenance of Certification: Reform or Reboot?” – Paul Mathew, MD ’05
  • “Monoclonal Antibody Use in Rheumatic Diseases” – Pierre Moeser, MD ’83
  • “Decoding the Alphabet Soup of Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD)” – Nirav Shah, MD ’02
  • “All About Gout” – Suneet Grewal, MD ’08
  • “Genetic Diseases in Cancer” – Shannon O’Connor, MD ’05
  • “Hepatitis is a Cure” – George Gartin, MD
  • “Psoriatic Arthritis” – Suneet Grewal, MD ’08
  • “How to Have a Baby Without Having Sex: New Frontiers in Reproduction” – Samuel Jacobs, MD ’82
  • “Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS): Where Are We Now?” – Nirav Shah, MD ’02
  • “Nutrition in Chronic Disease” – Taraneh Soleymani, MD ’07
  • “Obesity Treatment – How Far Have We Come?” – Sunil Daniel, MD ’07
  • “Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)” – George Gartin, MD

Conference participants are eligible to receive 16 CME credits certified by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). In addition to the discussion schedule, visitors can enjoy a full slate of leisure activities, including campus tours, dinner at the University Club, catamaran cruises, and more.

“Each year, we have added more and more to the continuing medical education conference in Grenada,” said Dr. Bonanno. “We encourage all alumni to take advantage of this opportunity to learn and to once again enjoy this beautiful island.”

Click here for the complete schedule of events and to register.

Scholars From Botswana, Where 1 in 5 Doctors Graduated From SGU, Begin Medical Studies in Grenada

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Aerial images of Sir Eric Gairy Hall and Andrew J. Belford Centre.

Three students from Botswana have taken their first steps towards a career in medicine at St. George’s University (SGU), the leading international medical school in the Caribbean, after being awarded full-tuition scholarships to study on the four-year MD program.

Wathata Onalethata Ntwayapelo, Lungowe Kabasiya, and Chevula C. Munaani arrived last month, in the latest example of St. George’s long-standing relationship with the Ministry of Health and Education and the Government of Botswana, which offers full-tuition scholarships to qualified students to pursue medical degrees.

Approximately one in every five practicing doctors in Botswana is a graduate of SGU—a remarkable demonstration of SGU’s commitment to training qualified global physicians to work across the world in areas of need. SGU is now the second largest source of doctors for the entire US workforce, and a further one in every five physicians in Trinidad and Tobago are also SGU graduates, underlining the exceptional range of career opportunities for qualified doctors trained in Grenada.

“At St. George’s University, our international student body has always been our greatest asset and building the capacity of young doctors in training to address global health challenges is part of our philosophy as a medical school,” said Dr. G. Richard Olds, president of St. George’s University.

“We recognize that there are two aspects to this: helping ambitious and qualified students who may not otherwise have access to a leading medical education to study with us in Grenada, but also acting as a provider of doctors for those places of need, helping to address shortages in healthcare provision and combating health inequality,” Dr. Olds said. “Few countries exemplify that better than Botswana, and we are tremendously proud of our joint achievements in this area.”

Added Dr. Olds: “We’re pleased to welcome Wathata Onalethata Ntwayapelo, Lungowe Kabasiya, and Chevula C. Munaani to our True Blue campus and look forward to helping guide them on their path to a career in medicine.”

Profound Impact: SGU Educated Second-Most Licensed Physicians in US in 2018

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For more than 40 years, St. George’s University has provided highly qualified physicians to the United States, and never before has its impact been more evident. According to a recent report published in the Journal of Medical Regulation, SGU educated the second-most licensed physicians in the United States in 2018.

The research, titled “Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) Census of Licensed Physicians in the United States, 2018,” showed that 10,791 US-based doctors had graduated from St. George’s University, the most among international medical schools, including those in the Caribbean. SGU stood behind only Indiana University School of Medicine with 11,828 graduates worldwide.

“St. George’s University physicians are making a positive influence on US healthcare every day and in every corner of the country,” said Dr. G. Richard Olds, president of SGU. “We are proud of the quality of care they provide and look forward to continuing our mission of training doctors of the highest caliber.”

In 2019 alone, SGU graduates secured more than 960 US residencies in 43 states and in specialties ranging from anesthesiology and emergency medicine to pediatrics and surgery. It marks the fifth consecutive year that SGU was the number one provider of new doctors to the US healthcare system.

The FSMB report also revealed that the percentage of practicing doctors who graduated from a Caribbean medical school had grown by 78 percent since 2010. Since opening its doors in 1977, SGU has trained more than 16,000 School of Medicine graduates who have gone on to practice in all 50 United States and more than 50 countries around the world.

“St. George’s University is committed to preparing our students with the foundation of knowledge and clinical skills to prosper in their medical careers,” said Dr. Richard Liebowitz, vice chancellor of SGU. “Our graduates have not only demonstrated their excellence in a hospital setting but also the profound effect that, collectively, they have on medical care in the US and globally.”

-Laurie Chartorynsky

First-Year MD Student Presents Research at International Anatomy Conference

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Pinthusorn “Blue” Eiamratchanee, a first-year medical student in the St. George’s University/Northumbria University 4-Year MD Program in the United Kingdom, recently presented the initial findings from a research collaborative between Mahidol University International College (MUIC) and SGU at the 19th Congress of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) in London.

Blue’s research presentation titled, “Novel insights into the anatomy and function of intertendinous connections in human hand” was part of a collaboration established by Dr. James Coey, Assistant Dean of Basic Sciences at SGU, and Athikhun Suwannakhan, a PhD student in the Department of Anatomy at MUIC. The research group was also the first to classify the Linburg-Comstock variation—an anatomical variant of flexor tendons of the hand—into three different types with immunochemistry, and proposed that its etiology is secondary to a traumatic injury or an excessive use of the hand.

“It was such an honor to work with Dr. Coey, an expert in the field of anatomy, and Mr. Suwannakhan, who comes from one of the most prestigious universities in Thailand,” said Ms. Eiamratchanee. “I was really excited about participating and presenting my work at the IFAA conference. It was an amazing opportunity for me to engage in both technological and educational discussions with different associations of anatomists from around the world.

“I have always wanted to be a medical doctor and a researcher,” she added. “I believe that, by being both, it would give me opportunities to use the current knowledge of science to help people understand the problems and obstacles in providing healthcare to patients, as well as expand the current knowledge as a tool for other physicians to provide better and more accurate medical diagnosis, treatment, and/or surgery.”

St. George’s University was further represented at the conference through platform presentations from Dr. Marios Loukas, dean of basic sciences and research at SGU, along with numerous poster presentations and artwork submitted by Dr. Robert Hage, professor of anatomical sciences at SGU, and his daughter, Lisa Hage, MD ’10.

This research collaboration continues to strengthen the relationship between SGU and MUIC, following the partnership established in 2014 that launched a dual BSc/MD degree between the two universities, and most recently the MOU signed in 2018 allowing Mahidol students who successfully complete a preclinical year of study to be eligible to enroll in SGU’s MD degree program.

“Blue is one of the first students to capitalize on this partnership, progressing from MUIC to SGU’s Northumbria program, and in her first year has managed to present at a prestigious international conference,” Dr. Coey said. “Additionally, the fact that this research was a collaboration with Mahidol paves the way for continued joint ventures in the future.”

– Ray-Donna Peters

St. George’s University, NYC Health+Hospitals Awards Twelve Incoming Students with CityDoctors Scholarships

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TRUE BLUE, Grenada (September 17, 2019) — Today, St. George’s University and NYC Health+Hospitals announced that it will award 12 students with CityDoctors scholarships.

“We’re thrilled to provide scholarships to these outstanding future doctors,” said Dr. G. Richard Olds, President of St. George’s University. “It’s a priority for us at St. George’s to make medical school accessible and affordable to aspiring doctors from a variety of backgrounds who are intent on returning home to New York to serve in the city’s neediest communities.”

Created in 2012, the CityDoctors Scholarships are available to applicants to the St. George’s University School of Medicine who wish to start their studies in the January term each year. To be eligible for the program, students must have maintained a permanent residence within the five boroughs of New York City for five or more years, graduated from high school or college in New York City, or have other ties to NYC Health + Hospitals.

Winners can receive partial or full scholarships. In exchange, they commit to working in one of the 11 hospitals in the NYC Health + Hospitals system for at least two years after graduating. Since the partnership’s inception, St. George’s has made careers in medicine possible for 113 aspiring and current doctors through the NYC Health + Hospitals CityDoctors program.

“Our commitment to delivering excellent care is reflected in our continued participation in the CityDoctors scholarship program, which provides young doctors, who have expressed an early commitment to primary care along with a heart-felt connection to the citizens of New York, the necessary support to become physicians,” said Machelle Allen, MD, Chief Medical Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals. “As we expand access to health care services to more New Yorkers through initiatives like NYC Care, our partnership with St. George’s University is a great example of our accountability, and active role in ensuring we have a reliable pipeline of well-trained primary care physicians joining NYC Health + Hospitals.”

Jersey Shore University Medical Center and HackensackUMC are also partners in the CityDoctors program. The two New Jersey medical centers have honored an additional 31 CityDoctors who have received scholarships to study at St. George’s. All told, the CityDoctors program has awarded scholarships to 144 aspiring and currently practicing doctors.

St. George’s is one of the leading providers of doctors to New York—and the second-largest source of doctors for the entire United States. In 2019, more than 275 St. George’s University graduates began residencies in New York.

“These CityDoctors will be crucial to addressing healthcare disparities across New York,” said Dr. Olds. “We’re proud to help these New Yorkers, and dozens before them, make their dreams of becoming doctors a reality.”

A Family Affair at School of Medicine White Coat Ceremonies

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Oftentimes older siblings have a strong influence on their younger siblings. Such was the case for St. George’s University medical student Moe Badran, who followed in the footsteps of his sister, Nawal Badran, MD ’09, and brother, Sam Badran, MD ’11, each of whose path to a career in medicine wove through Grenada.

With his own SGU education, Moe Badran looks forward to joining his sister, a board-certified physician in internal medicine based in Southern California, and brother, a child psychiatrist in Cincinnati, OH, in the medical field. He took one step closer to that goal, partaking in the Fall 2019 SOM White Coat Ceremonies.

“I grew up hearing about SGU for almost a decade from my siblings,” said the first-year student. “I had always heard great things and knew for a fact that SGU had that prestige and reputation of producing great doctors, so I proudly accepted the offer to come here.”

Similarly, Dr. Cameron Charchenko, a urologist from Bismarck, ND, was very influential in his sister Celeste’s decision to attend medical school. According to Dr. Charchenko, coating his sister was the second greatest day of his life, after his wedding day.

“My field of interest is surgery, but I’m hoping that one day my brother and I can work together,” Ms. Charchenko said. “He’s shown me a bit of urology surgery that I find really interesting so I’m hoping to grow up to follow in his footsteps. Sharing this moment together and him coating me was amazing and something I will never forget.”

This sentiment of families following in each other’s footsteps and working together was echoed by alumnus and master of ceremonies Leonard Levin, MD ’83. He returned to SGU after coating his son, Jacob, in this very same ceremony last year. Dr. Levin looks back fondly on his medical student experience.

“SGU is a family,” stated Dr. Levin. “There are families you’re born into and families that accepted you and you accepted them. Unlike being an undergraduate where there’s a lot of competition, here a rising tide floats all boats. So be there for each other, help each other, work with each other, be a team, and support each other through the trials and tribulations that will be out there in the future.”

Delivering the keynote address was Dr. Ross Upshur, who in 2015 was named one of the Top 20 Canadian Pioneers in Family Medicine Research and Family Medicine Researcher of the Year by the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He reminded members of the Class of 2023 that they stood on the threshold of commencing a career in one of the most respected professions and that, after donning their white coats, they would join a tradition of service to humanity that dates back through millennia.

“I’m thrilled that you have chosen to make the practice of medicine your career,” said Dr. Upshur, Dalla Lana Chair, Head of the Division of Clinical Public Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. “You will be constantly stimulated, seldom bored, and often awestruck by what you learn from your patients. They will be your greatest and most humbling teachers. You will garner insights about humanity that few others can.

“You will have enormous power and privilege—use it wisely and judiciously,” he continued. “Be generous and give back. I wish each of you success in your studies and hope that you have long and rewarding careers.”

In addition to serving as a rite of passage for aspiring physicians, the School of Medicine White Coat Ceremonies coincide with a weekend of activities that help make up Beyond Spice Family Weekend. The University’s bi-annual event welcomes students and family members to soak up nature and culture in Grenada.

– Ray-Donna Peters

Global Medical Students Welcomed Onto Path of “Lifelong Learning” at White Coat Ceremony

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Students from around the world took their first steps into their medical education at the traditional White Coat Ceremony, inaugurating the 12th year of a partnership between St. George’s University and Northumbria University in Newcastle, England.

Seventy-five students from countries including Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Botswana were formally inducted into the St. George’s University School of Medicine/Northumbria University Joint MD Program. Since its establishment in 2007, the SGU/NU program has welcomed more than 1,700 students to the medical education track.

Path of Lifelong Learning

Emceeing the ceremonies was Leah Ratner, MD ’14, an alumna of the joint program who is now a pediatric global health fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts. Recounting stories from her time practicing in the US and attending conferences in Mexico, Dr. Ratner advised new students to adopt a multidimensional approach to medicine that goes “beyond the exam room” and encompasses the social determinants of health. She urged them to “empathize with others” and the personal and structural problems that their patients may face, and to take personal responsibility for working toward equity and justice in healthcare and medical institutions.

Dr. Matthew Wynia, director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado, and a former visiting professor at SGU, delivered the keynote address. He encouraged the students embarking on a “path of lifelong learning” to think of medicine as a series of complex adaptive systems, where knowledge of individual parts is not the same as an understanding of the whole, and outcomes will depend upon doctors’ abilities to constantly address these evolving challenges.

“We are creating our professional culture all the time, in every ordinary decision we make,” he told students, echoing Dr. Ratner’s advice to address the “hard questions” about doctors’ social responsibilities.

Special Tribute

To open the day’s proceedings, Professor Jon Reast, pro-vice chancellor at Northumbria University, paid special tribute to Baroness Howells of St. Davids, a former trustee of the St. George’s University UK Trust and a firm fixture of White Coat Ceremonies in years past.

Baroness Howells, who stepped down from the House of Lords earlier this year, is the only Grenadian to join the peerage and is a former president of the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF), a Grenada-based research institute that collaborates with SGU.

The SGU/Northumbria joint program, formerly the Keith B. Taylor Global Scholars Program, was founded in 2007 to create a pathway for highly qualified international students to pursue a world-class medical education by beginning their physician training with SGU at Northumbria, before going to Grenada to continue their studies. Earlier this year, the universities announced that the joint program would be expanded to allow students to complete up to two years of their pre-clinical medical education in the UK.

Op-Ed: Why California needs more internationally educated doctors

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This article was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 31, 2019. St. George’s University has obtained the rights to republish the article. 

California’s doctor shortage is acute. More than 7.7 million Californians live in federally designated “primary care health professional shortage areas.” Only about 40% of the state’s primary care needs are currently being met.

This situation is poised to get worse. California isn’t producing or recruiting enough new doctors to replace those who are retiring. Meanwhile, the state’s population is rapidly aging. To keep up with demand, the state will need an additional 4,100 primary care doctors by 2030.

Dr. G. Richard Olds is president of St. George’s University

Already, many low-income Californians find it impossible to get the health care they need. Many patients enrolled in Medi-Cal struggle to find doctors who will take their insurance.

To their credit, state leaders recognize that there’s a problem. The state recently began forgiving medical school debt for doctors who commit to treating a certain number of Medi-Cal patients. That’s a commendable step. But wiping away doctors’ debt won’t do much to alleviate the inability of many state residents to access care.

To really address this problem, California needs to increase the supply of doctors. It can start by recruiting more graduates of international medical schools.

Many “international” graduates actually hail from California and would jump at the chance to serve their home communities. (A growing number of Americans choose to study at medical schools abroad, partially because of the high cost of U.S. institutions.)

In February 2019, the California Future Health Workforce Commission released its plan for boosting the supply of doctors in the state. In addition to loan forgiveness, the commission floated other ideas, like increasing the role of nurse practitioners and offering scholarships for students who commit to working in underserved areas.

Noticeably absent from the plan was any mention of recruiting more international medical graduates to California. International graduates are perfectly suited to meet the health care needs of historically medically underserved Californians.

According to a report from the American Immigration Council, more than half of international graduates work in places where per capita income is $30,000 or less. Compared to U.S.-educated physicians, doctors trained abroad are more likely to treat Medicaid patients.

International medical graduates also disproportionately practice in areas with large minority populations. About 25% of all doctors nationwide graduated from international medical schools. But in places where more than half of the population identifies as Hispanic, more than 36% of doctors are international medical graduates.

That’s important in California. More than half of Medi-Cal enrollees are Hispanic, according to 2013 Kaiser Family Foundation data.

Some people erroneously believe that international medical graduates are less qualified to practice medicine than those who graduate from U.S. medical schools, but their graduates are held to the exact same standards as U.S.-trained doctors. All medical school graduates who wish to practice in the United States must pass all four parts of the United States Medical Licensing Examination. Aspiring physicians are tested on topics ranging from the cardiovascular system to population health.

Medical students must also train in clinical settings prior to graduation. Some international students train in the United States. Unlike students from U.S. medical schools, international students are required to work in teaching hospitals with residency programs. Working in close proximity with practicing residents provides international graduates with experiences that help them thrive in their own postgraduate work.

California desperately needs primary care doctors, but only 41.5% of seniors graduating from U.S. medical schools in 2019 chose primary care as their specialty. Meanwhile, roughly 70% of international graduates chose pediatrics, internal medicine, or family medicine in this residency match cycle.

Recruiting more doctors from international schools won’t just address the primary care shortage — it’ll improve the quality of care in the state. One study published by BMJ, a medical journal, found that patients treated by international graduates had lower 30-day mortality rates than those treated by U.S.-educated doctors.

Low-income Californians deserve access to high-quality care. The state needs more doctors to supply that care. International medical graduates can be those doctors.

 

— G. Richard Olds

 

SGU Vice Chancellor Featured On RealClearEducation.com

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An op/ed piece by Dr. Richard Liebowitz (right), vice chancellor of St. George’s University, recently appeared on realcleareducation.com. In it, he explained the crucial role that international medical schools play in training highly qualified students that eventually become much-needed physicians in the United States.

“The odds of gaining admission to U.S. medical schools are growing longer,” Dr. Liebowitz wrote. “But bright young Americans don’t have to give up their dreams of becoming doctors. They can turn to top-notch international medical schools. Their future patients will surely thank them.”

Read Complete Story on RealClearEducation.com