Gondar Medical College Alumni Report January 2012

GCMS Alumni Network

January 2012

GONDAR COLLEGE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES ALUMNI NETWORK Update & Appeal for Moving Forward Together!

Report from Recent Alumni Visit to Gondar A team of volunteer physicians recently traveled to Gondar to follow up on formalizing the establishment of the alumni network and working out the logistics for how the network will operate.

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Support the Surgical Textbook Project—Donate Today!

We are continuing our campaign to collect funds to support the development of a surgical textbook prepared by doctors and professionals for the benefit of medical students and physicians at Gondar Hospital.

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Written by Dr. Anteneh Habte Dear Fellow Alumni, I had the opportunity to visit Gondar University twice over the last year. It was fascinating to see how a small college of a few hundred has been transformed into a sprawling campus of 17,000 students with post graduate programs in multiple specialties and Residency programs at the college of medical sciences.

Gondar University has a dedicated leadership team which is striving to give the best education possible with limited human and material resources. As the number of medical schools in the country

continues to grow at a rapid rate, Gondar College of Medical Sciences will have stiff competition in promoting training, clinical service, and research. They already have partnerships with multiple medical schools and institutions both within Ethiopia and abroad.

There is no doubt however, that they can use all the help that they can get.

I was tasked by the ad-hoc committee of the GCMS Alumni Network to gauge the level of interest of both the University leadership and our fellow alumni in Ethiopia, for such an organization as a vehicle to stay engaged in the activities in our

alma mater and find a way to “give back”. I am happy to report that all sides are absolutely enthusiastic about the idea and willing to be fully engaged.

As most of you know, this is not a first attempt to form a GCMS Alumni Society. A few years ago, as the 50th anniversary of the founding of the school was being celebrated, a few dedicated alumni did the groundwork, formulated bylaws, and raised some 30,000 birr, which is still sitting in the bank! Therefore, it is not surprising that there is a healthy dose of skepticism, a “been there, done that…” attitude for the current efforts.

GCMS Alumni Network

January 2012

If we do not all engage, this will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, the will is obviously there, and it is up to us to provide the way.

I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Sisay, Dean of the medical school, and other leaders of the University. Dr. Elias Siraj and I also met the President of the University, Dr. Mengesha, during our trip in March last year. They have recruited young and energetic physicians like Drs. Yonas, Mulatu and Ermias who are committed to this partnership. Ato Yifokire Tefera, who is assistant Dean of the College of Medical Sciences was very generous with his time and assembled top leaders of the institution during my visit to discuss priorities of the college and areas of collaboration. I also had a chance to meet with the students during my visit and give a lecture in “Hospice & Palliative Care”. I am working with faculty there to incorporate this discipline into medical school and residency curriculums.

While in Addis Ababa, we had an alumni dinner organized at Intercontinental Hotel and sponsored by People to People. A total of 18 people comprised of university leadership and alumni, were able to attend on short notice. It was an absolute thrill to see old friends after so many years. A good time was had by all and experiences were shared. I was humbled to learn that quite a few of our colleagues are already “giving back” in various ways. There are those who travel to Gondar regularly and donate their time to teaching students and doing clinical work. There are others who are conducting joint projects with the medical school through their various institutions. The work is obviously being done, it just needs to be strengthened and better coordinated. We concluded the dinner by nominating three alumni to serve as steering committee members of alumni in Ethiopia, while the three of us (Elias, Mulugeta, and Anteneh) will continue to coordinate efforts from this side of the Atlantic.

These three alumni are Drs. Ermias Mulugeta, Eyesusawit Shewangizaw and Takele Geressu. The plan is to have younger alumni take over once we have the network up and running.

I urge all of you to do your part to make our effort a success this time around. As we continue to reach out to more alumni, I ask you to look at the big picture and the overall vision and not technicalities where it is difficult to have a consensus. As we organize ourselves under one umbrella, it is up to each one of

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us to decide how we want to stay engaged. The network is only meant to streamline and coordinate efforts and serve as a liaison between the institution and the alumni. We should try to be responsive to their needs and show our appreciation to our colleagues who continue to serve in Gondar under sub-optimal conditions.

The steering committee will continue to engage with GCMS leadership, solicit ideas for collaboration from alumni, and lay out the basic framework to get the network registered as a non-profit organization with tax exempt privileges.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask everyone to be part of the effort and also support the “surgical textbook” initiative (donate online at http://www.razoo.com/story/Support-For-TheSurgical-Unit-At-Gondar-Teaching-Hospital). As Dr. Elias mentioned, even if it may not be regarded as a priority by everybody, it fulfills several important criteria. It was conceived by the school and its leaders, it was already underway when we were asked to support it, it is a project which will promote collaboration between faculty and students, and it is relatively inexpensive and gives us a cause to rally behind.

There will always be differences of opinion, but I believe there are more things that we can agree on.

The overarching goal is to give back in any way possible to our alma mater to which we have a hundred one reasons to be grateful. As Voltaire said, “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

Sincerely, Anteneh Habte, MD