Reflections on global partnership and shared learning

As the year draws to a close, I’ve been thinking about the many ways our faculty contributes to global health. This reflection has been shaped, in part, by my recent trip to Kigali, Rwanda, for the Africa Health Collaborative Convening, generously supported by the Mastercard Foundation — an experience that left a lasting impression on me.

While in Rwanda, I heard about the country’s ongoing efforts, since the 1994 genocide, to foster a shared national identity grounded in the message “We are all Rwandans.” Listening to these reflections underscored for me how essential strong systems — health, education, governance and community partnerships — are to building a resilient society that strives to care for everyone.

A highlight of the visit was touring the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), the national agency responsible for public health implementation, research and diagnostics. What struck me most was the clarity of their model: government and universities working hand in hand. As our host explained, while RBC implements public health strategies, “we rely on universities, which have the expertise to tell us what we should be focusing on.”

This was a powerful reminder of what can happen when evidence and action are deeply connected. This alignment resonates here in Canada, where U of T President and neuroscientist Melanie Woodin champions the essential role that universities play in building health, resilient societies — and how our multidisciplinary expertise positions U of T to address complex global health and socio-economic challenges.

Through the Africa Health Collaborative (AHC), U of T works alongside eight African universities and the Mastercard Foundation to strengthen health sectors, train primary healthcare workers, support entrepreneurship and expand mentorship and co-teaching. It is collaborative work in the truest sense, and a reminder of how much we learn from the diverse contexts in which our partners operate.

At Temerty Medicine, our global partnerships take many forms, including education, clinical training, research collaborations and virtual mentorship. All are grounded in capacity-building and reciprocal learning.

Many of our departments have built relationships that span decades. For more than 15 years, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has partnered with Kenya’s Moi University through the AMPATH-UofT Program to support maternal, newborn and child health in western Kenya. This takes place through on-the-ground clinical care, education, research and bilateral exchanges, including co-development of the country’s first fellowship programs in gynaecological oncology and maternal-fetal medicine. 

Since 2003, the Department of Psychiatry has collaborated with colleagues at Addis Ababa University (AAU) through the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC) training over 110 of Ethiopia’s 130 psychiatrists, and supporting important firsts, including the first Masters of Clinical Psychology and the first Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship in Ethiopia. TAAAC now partners with 30 graduate and postgraduate programs between AAU and U of T, and has expanded beyond psychiatry to support other clinical disciplines.

Here in Toronto, clinical fellowships have been offered across the TAHSN hospital network including in areas of palliative medicine ,critical care, and emergency medicine. The Divisions of Endocrinology, Hematology, Infectious Disease, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, and Cardiology have hosted observership programs for trainees. And in Ghana, the Department of Family and Community Medicine has co-developed and co-delivered courses in hospital emergency care, palliative care, quality improvement, community emergency care, and pandemic preparedness with colleagues at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. 

We also support global education through donor-funded programs like the A.K. Prakash Fellowship in International Medicine, which enables early-career surgeons from resource-limited countries to gain specialized experience at Temerty Medicine and in our academic health sciences centres.  

Beyond Africa, Temerty Medicine contributes to research, clinical education and scholarly exchange with partners across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

In all of this work, what stands out most is reciprocity. We are fortunate to share our expertise, but we learn just as much — often more — from our global colleagues. These partnerships and exchanges take many forms: teams travelling abroad, scholars joining us here in Canada, and virtual collaborations that support ongoing capacity-building.

Last year, at the Africa Health Collaborative Convening gathering in Ghana, for example, I learned about innovative approaches to emergency communication in regions without internet access, as well as the integration of Indigenous pharmaceutical gardens into a teaching hospital’s therapeutic practices. Experiences like these deepen our understanding of how different health systems meet local needs and broaden the way we think about education, research and care.

Global engagement is just one of the many strengths of our Temerty Medicine community. As we approach the holiday season, I want to offer my sincere thanks for everything you do to advance our mission in Toronto, across Canada and around the world.

Whether you are travelling near or far, reconnecting with loved ones or continuing your clinical care duties, I hope this season offers moments of joy, celebration and renewal.

Warm wishes for the holidays, and I look forward to all we will accomplish together in the year ahead.

Lisa Robinson, MD, FRCPC
 
Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine 
Vice Provost, Relations with Health-Care Institutions