Royal College expanding number of international grants in 2023

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) is expanding the number of international aid, development and collaboration grants in 2023. The number of grants available will expand so that by early 2024, active projects will rise from 22 to 35—funding more than 150 RCPSC fellows in their work with developing countries. The projects aim to support the countries’ goals for advancing specialized medicine education. “That to me is exciting because we’re growing capacity in countries that are developing and we’re supporting our fellows in their philanthropical activities internationally through that program,” said Craig Ceppatelli, the RCPSC’s executive director of the Office of International Collaboration. Ceppatelli said the grants applications will be due in May. While the RCPSC’s Office of International Collaboration runs the international aid, development and collaboration projects, Royal College International is the RCPSC’s international business unit, promoting and delivering Royal College educational programs to partners around the world. Royal College International will go into 2023 without one international partner. On March 15, 2022 it ceased all engagements indefinitely with Kazan State Medical University in Russia. The cut in ties was due to Russia’s unprovoked and illegal attack on Ukraine, a RCPSC spokesperson said. Kazan State Medical University’s internal medicine residency program was the first international program to have full RCPSC accreditation status. Up until March 15, residents in the program took RCPSC exams. Read: Royal College grants accreditation to residency program in Russia The physicians at Kazan weren’t surprised, Ceppatelli said. “We weren’t the only institution out there that had a partnership with Kazan to cease engagement,” he said. “All of our sister colleges that we have relationships with and conferred with all took the decision as well to cease engagements.” “We stand with Ukraine in their fight for freedom and justice in the unprovoked attack,” he said. Royal College International carefully considers which clients to support based on several criteria, including “alignment with our vision,” its website reads. It reviews the international portfolio on a regular basis, Ceppetelli said. Royal College International partners with institutions in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, China, and Bahrain, among others. The question of engaging globally was addressed in a Nov. 7 blog by Dr. Richard Reznick, president of RCPSC. “I would posit that it is better to engage than not engage,” he wrote. “In that regard, I would suggest that the work we do is about improving health, and we are committed to helping improve the health and care of patients, no matter where they live.” An international development, aid and collaboration projects currently on hold is one in Ukraine. It involved surgeons in Canada training Ukrainian surgeons in craniofacial surgical skills. The initiative involved advisory missions, live surgery demonstrations, symposia and sponsored surgery observerships, all designed to strengthen capacity for craniofacial surgery in the Ukrainian health care system. Craniofacial trauma increased after the Russian invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine in 2014. Meanwhile, other international development, aid and collaboration projects continue across the globe. Projects include improving capacity to manage and diagnose epilepsy in the Caribbean, training rheumatologists in Rwanda and building a physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program in Nepal. “As a world leader in PGME, the Royal College should continue to move forward as a globally minded organization,” Dr. Reznick wrote. “I invite every Royal College Fellow to consider how they might participate in international engagement, which is an enriching endeavour in so many ways.” Read: Trying to make the world more like Canada

Royal College expanding number of international grants in 2023

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