‘Meaningful impact on human health’
“We are very pleased to serve the School of Medicine and the field of medicine in this way,” said John Mitchell, PhD, vice provost for teaching and learning. “An important part of our mission is to make Stanford’s expertise more broadly available. This new center provides an opportunity to do that through meaningful impact on human health.”
The center’s offerings ultimately may range from free content in resource-poor countries to fee-based certificate and degree programs in developed economies, Mitchell said, and will be funded by private foundations and philanthropy, tuition and, in some cases, research sponsorships.
Prober noted that the proliferation of smart devices into the farthest reaches of the globe has made it possible to distribute health information broadly, with content tailored to address a wide variety of audiences. A topic like nutrition education, for example, can be tailored to reach medical students, patients, health professionals in continuing medical education or individual citizens in rural communities in some of the world’s most impoverished countries.
“Anything we create of inherent value for health care should be repurposed for health care for all, including developing countries,” he said.
The center will build upon existing programs developed by the medical school and the vice provost’s office and also expand partnerships with other organizations, including academic institutions, governmental agencies and nonprofits both in the United States and abroad.
The center will expand Stanford’s Digital Medical Education International Collaborative program, which aims to improve health education by creating high-quality, accessible content for use in developing countries. Digital MEdIC already has a strong presence in India, where Sakti Srivastava, MD, associate professor of surgery and director of the program, has been building partnerships with public and private medical schools, nonprofits and government agencies to make online and simulation-based resources about health more widely available.
Similarly, Maya Adam, MD, a lecturer in pediatrics, is now expanding the Digital MEdIC program in South Africa by disseminating digital teaching tools on nutrition, pregnancy, breastfeeding and HIV management that can be used by community health workers and local women who might not otherwise have access to this information.
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