November 8, 2010

Johns Hopkins to help develop medical school and teaching hospital

Johns Hopkins to help develop medical school and teaching hospital

The Johns Hopkins University, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Medicine International have signed an agreement with Academic Medical Centre and an associate company of Turiya to help Malaysia develop its first fully integrated private four-year graduate medical school and teaching hospital.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Muhyiddin bin Mohd Yassin observed the signing ceremony, which took place Nov. 2 in Kuala Lumpur.

Among those representing Johns Hopkins were Edward D. Miller, dean of the School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine; Mohan Chellappa, president for global ventures at Johns Hopkins Medicine International; David Nichols, vice dean for education in the School of Medicine; Steve Thompson, senior vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Charles Wiener, professor of medicine and vice chair of education in the School of Medicine, who has been named the founding and interim dean and CEO of the medical school and hospital.

The school, to be called Perdana University Graduate School of Medicine, will open in fall 2011.
“For more than a century, Johns Hopkins has been recognized as a national and global leader in patient care, research and education,” Miller said. “We are honored to have an opportunity to share our innovations and best practices with the people of Malaysia. We firmly believe that this project will help us to continue our historic and vital mission of helping to raise the standards of health care around the world.”

Under the agreement, Johns Hopkins will assist with the development of every major aspect of the new medical enterprise, including medical education programs, campus design and facilities planning, and clinical affairs. Johns Hopkins also will guide academic development in alignment with the breakthroughs of its new Genes to Society curriculum and will consult on other important components, including the teaching environment and infrastructure, pedagogy, administration and student affairs.

Johns Hopkins also will provide guidance on the design and development of Perdana University Hospital, a 600-bed teaching facility that will include a full complement of ambulatory care facilities, diagnostic capabilities and ancillary support services.

And, in a third major component of the agreement, Johns Hopkins will advise Malaysian colleagues on the development and integration of research programs across the entire medical enterprise.

Operationally, all education, patient care and research functions and programs will be managed in accordance with the Johns Hopkins Medicine organizational and operational model.
“It is a great privilege to be able to assist Malaysia with the establishment of its first private graduate medical school and teaching hospital,” Nichols said. “Not only will this collaboration have a transformational impact on the quality of medical education, research and health care delivery for Malaysia and the region, but it also will bring a wide range of benefits to the university, departments, faculty and staff here in Baltimore.”

Johns Hopkins will provide a leadership team for the new school that includes vice deans as well as a founding dean and CEO; advise and consult with its Malaysian partners on faculty and student recruitment; recruit and supply founding core faculty and staff, who will administer the Genes to Society curriculum and advance the new school’s research mission; provide training in the Genes to Society curriculum and educational program development for non–Johns Hopkins faculty; and advise and consult in campus design, research program development and hospital operations.

Johns Hopkins faculty will have opportunities to take temporary or potentially permanent assignments of six months to two years at Perdana University Graduate School of Medicine or Perdana University Hospital; participate as curriculum trainers for Malaysian and other international faculty, or in specific research collaborations, during their stays in Baltimore; or visit Kuala Lumpur as guest faculty for one to two weeks. JHM staff will also be eligible for some temporary or permanent positions.

“This is a remarkable opportunity to transform the medical educational system and introduce a new thematic medical paradigm to Southeast Asia,” said Wiener, who will take up residence in Malaysia in January. “The people there are enthusiastic about medical education reform and establishing an academic medical center with Hopkins values.

“I hope that the Johns Hopkins community will share this excitement and participate in the groundbreaking effort,” he said. “We are looking for teachers and role models who are looking to live in this exciting environment. Johns Hopkins is deeply invested in the success of this collaboration. I welcome people who want to be part of it.”

The curriculum, Wiener said, will be in English, and applicants will be required to complete the MCAT in English.

The school is projected to open with up to 100 “highly qualified” students, Wiener said. David Trabilsy, former director of admissions at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, will be interim director for medical student admissions. In preparation for the 2011–2012 academic year, faculty and staff from Johns Hopkins are expected to be in place in Malaysia in July.

Academic Medical Centre’s primary focus is to develop Perdana University, a public-private partnership. Chase Perdana holds an 80 percent equity interest in Academic Medical Centre, while Turiya Berhad owns the remaining 20 percent. A premier construction company in Malaysia and the Middle East, Chase Perdana was the main contractor to design and build the University Malaysia Sabah, one of the premier universities in Malaysia.