Building Capacity in Medical Education in Russia: The Yale Experience

The partnership between Yale University Department of Medicine and Kazan State Medical University (KSMU) was established in 1996 with the goal of improving capacity of KSMU through training of faculty. The emphasis of the partnership was the creation of trained faculty familiar with modern medical education in Kazan who would then initiate a gradual change in medical education initially at the graduate and later at the undergraduate level.

The first step toward this goal was the establishment of a medical library in the English language with internet access. Next, dozens of students, residents, and faculty, mainly from Yale, were sent to this University. Their responsibility was to familiarize Russian colleagues on specific content areas, to impart knowledge on the basics of teaching, clinical epidemiology and evidence based medicine, and to create a team structure that would integrate patient care with clinical education.

More importantly, over the last 16 years of partnership, 37 of selected KSMU junior faculty, residents, and students with proficient English language skills were trained at Yale or one of its major community hospital affiliates for 6-12 months. Currently, 27 individuals are working in Kazan primarily as junior and mid-level faculty at KSMU or Kazan Medical Academy.

This partnership has been instrumental in expanding the medical knowledge of faculty, residents, and students of KSMU as well as the neighborhood educational institutes on topics of renal diseases, infectious diseases, tropical medicine, HIV/AIDS, and Global Health. This presentation focuses mainly on the history and accomplishments of this unique collaboration.