Educating Doctors to Be Leaders and Changemakers - Dr. Abebe Bekele, Dean of the School of Medicine at University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda

“The qualities of a provider that were envisioned fifty years ago are completely different from what the world needs for tomorrow. It’s completely different,” insists Dr. Abebe Bekele, who is entrusted with educating this new breed of physician at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. As Bekele explains to host Shiv Gaglani in this special in-person interview on the campus of UGHE in Butaro, Rwanda, COVID-19 has demonstrated that doctors now need to be able to serve as leaders of institutions, manage large projects, raise money and interface with influential public sector players such as policymakers and journalists. The program at UGHE has been designed with that in mind by providing a grounding in liberal arts and humanities along with the necessary medical content. As you’ll learn in this insightful conversation, the relatively young school -- which was established by Partners in Health in 2015 -- is taking a thoughtful approach to meeting healthcare needs in the region through admissions policies and scholarships that are boosting the number of female physicians and incentivizing its graduates to practice medicine in their home communities. Beyond connecting with Dr. Bekele, Shiv’s visit gave him a chance to meet with students and faculty to gain a deeper understanding of the partnership Osmosis has with UGHE which is part of a larger effort to support medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Namibia where he was born. As you’ll hear, Shiv came away seeing UGHE as a model for health education in an increasingly interconnected world. 

Mentioned in this episode: https://ughe.org/

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast