 "Photo: Courtesy of Somkid Sridaromont")
Although the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center does not have much history of sending its students overseas, Tom Tenner said he believes students are gaining an increased interest in studying medicine abroad as the field of international medicine becomes more popular.
Several HSC professors and administrators traveled to Thailand to help students at Chiang Mai University Medical School prepare for the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam, or USMLE, and help foster relations between the two universities to open up opportunities for HSC students to travel abroad.
Despite losing his luggage for a three-day trip to Thailand and circumnavigating the world because of weather problems — flying from Dallas to Europe before reaching Thailand on the way there and making his way through Seoul and across the Pacific Ocean on the way back — Tom Tenner, the associate dean for Faculty Affairs and Development in the School of Medicine, completed his seventh trip to the Chiang Mai University.
Tenner said the students were gracious for the time given by HSC professors and administrators. Two years ago, he was moderating one of the clinical sessions and as the Thai physicians he helped prepare for the USMLE walked into the room, they bowed to him.
“I’m sitting here turning around thinking, ‘Who the hell walked in the room?’” he said.
The program started in 1991, Tenner said, and was created because the Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok only accepts physicians who have passed the USMLE.
Concern from HSC administrators that the students were not properly prepared when they took the exam led to a collaboration between the Thai Physicians Association of America, the Thailand government and the HSC to fly the administrators to Thailand to help the students prepare.
The students also often come from Thailand to complete residencies in the United States, and several are participating in residencies at the HSC.
The group made its most recent trip in the last week of October, and some memorandums of understanding between the two universities may come out of the trip, said Dr. Steven Berk, dean of the HSC School of Medicine.
“Medical students, over the last five to 10 years, are very interested in international health. They’re interested in going other places to study, as well,” he said. “Medical schools in other countries have some real advantages. For instance, if you want to do AIDS research, Thailand has a great opportunity because they have more AIDS patients.”
The universities are developing the memorandums to establish possible experiences for the future, Berk said, because the HSC has not had much experience sending students to Thailand.
Tenner said a physician or a medical student visiting another country broadens the person’s perspective and gives them another learning experience.
“Anytime you can travel to another place and see a different approach — there are different diseases over there that we don’t have or don’t see in excess,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to learn.”
Paul Douthit, a professor in pediatrics, said he began making the trip a couple years after the first trip and helps with the behavioral psychology portion of the reviews. Because certain parts of that field vary greatly between countries, such as the diagnosis of ADHD, he must convey those differences to the students in Thailand.
He also said he talked with his students in Lubbock about the trip and some of the cultural experiences when he returned from the trip.
Eunice Lee, a second-year medical student from El Paso, said she believes it is important to study abroad no matter regardless of area of study.
Although the opportunities have not always been there in the past, she said, more students are receiving opportunities and presenting those opportunities at the HSC.
“I think they’re getting better about having more opportunities,” Lee said. “It seems like every year more and more students are going abroad over the summer.”
She said she believes the administrators visiting medical schools in other countries is important because the knowledge of medicine should be shared internationally and the science of it is the same wherever a person goes.
Berk said in addition to the review sessions, he visited other medical schools in Bangkok and helped celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chiang Mai University Medical School.
During his time in Thailand, Berk said he had the opportunity to speak with students at the university and hear about their medical education. He also was able to speak with deans from across Southeast Asia about some of the problems they have that are similar like getting medical help to rural areas and financing education.
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