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Stuart
Schwartz, a professor of psychiatry at University of Medicine
and Dentistry of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School,
is using his Fulbright Alumni Initiatives Award grant to create
the Fulbright Legacy Fund Global Medicine Program.
The objective of this program is to establish a continued exchange
of students and faculty between his home institution and programs
in India. Medical students and residents from Robert Wood Johnson
Medical School will have the opportunity to work in India in primary
care settings in remote areas as well as in a major neuropsychiatric
institute in Bangalore, India. In addition, visiting faculty from
India will come to the United States to upgrade their skills and
collaborate in research at the New Brunswick-based institution.
Schwartz says that many of the students at the Robert Wood Johnson
Medical School are of Indian descent and would welcome the opportunity
to go back to their country of origin to be involved in medical
care and learn about cross cultural issues.
With regard to the faculty exchange, Schwartz says that one major
problem in India in the past two decades has been a 'brain drain'
in medicine with some of the best doctors leaving for advanced
training in other countries, particularly the United States and
remaining to live here.
"This program would be one of the few that would provide
advanced training to Indian physicians who would return to their
own country with increased skills and continued opportunities
for international collaboration in both research and training
projects," he adds.
Schwartz's original Fulbright work was also based in India from
December 1997 to April 1998. While there, he worked at the National
Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences and has continued
to collaborate on a project on cross-cultural practice.
Schwartz hopes the program will provide the necessary assistance
and support for underprovided areas of Indian health care, such
as alcoholism and geriatric psychiatry.
Schwartz says that the work supported by the Alumni Initiatives
Awards Program has been very successful thus far. Three American
students have been to India and have recently returned to the
U.S. Plans have also been set for Indian Faculty visits beginning
May 2001. The students are scheduled to report on their experience
to a medical school Global Medicine Colloquium, a newly organized
student faculty group that is promoting work in international
health at the medical school.
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