The King Edward Medical University Auditorium was the venue for a standing-room-only gathering of all KE faculty for an all-day international colloquium on Undergraduate Medical Curriculum Reform on Wednesday, December 24^th 2008. Jointly sponsored by KEMU, KEMCAANA, and APPNA MERIT, the colloquium brought together Vice Chancellors, Deans, Professors, and medical students from the US and Pakistan. Presentations focused on the current state-of-the-art in evidence-based, competencies-oriented undergraduate medical education internationally, the status and challenges of MBBS teaching in Pakistan, and the lessons from recent pioneering educational reform initiatives in Pakistan.

KEMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Zafar Ullah Khan, requested the full KE faculty to attend the colloquium, which was an indication of KEMU’s seriousness about medical education reform. Following the colloquium Dr. Khan met with KEMCAANA and APPNA leadership to announce a set of concrete reform steps, including:

1.       Establishment of a Medical Education dept at KE under Prof Mahmud Shaukat’s leadership

2.       Resolve to update the curriculum and teaching methodology

3.       Request for KEMCAANA and APPNA MERIT to help revise the first 2 year curriculum based on semester system, modular integrated teaching and early introduction of clinical medicine

4.       A steering committee of KEMU faculty and administration to be established to shape the curriculum reform initiative, with international members contributed by KEMCAANA and APPNA MERIT

Symposium Speakers & Topics

The colloquium ran from 9 am to 3 pm, followed by a late lunch reception for the attendees. The perspectives included those of medical students, international faculty, medical education reformers in Pakistan and of medical regulatory bodies, including:

• Introduction of Symposium: KEMU vision of needed Curriculum Reform, by Prof Mahmood Shaukat, Registrar, KEMU.
• Medical Education Experience at KEMU, by Final year medical students, Mehreen Zarin and Sanad Saad, and recent MBBS graduate and Fulbright scholarship winner, Dr. Madiha Shams
• US Medical Student Perspective, by Asima Ahmed, a University of Chicago medical student and a Master’s student in Harvard University’s School of Public Health
• Competency-Based Medical Curriculum: The New International Goal Post, by G. Naheed Usmani, MD Assoc. Prof. at University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Chairperson, APPNA MERIT
• Clinical Clerkship: Medical Student Transition from Classroom to Clinical Practice, by Adeel Butt, MD, University of Pittsburgh Medical School
• Medical Curricular Reform at Dow University of Health Sciences: Successes and Challenges, by Prof. Masood Hameed Khan, Vice Chancellor DUHS, Karachi
•  Implementation of Problem based Learning in Medical Education at Aga Khan University, Prof. Rukhsana Zuberi, Dean of Medical Education, AKU, Karachi
• An Integrated Curriculum based on Social and Biological Context of Disease at Shifa College of Medicine, by Prof. Mujtaba Quadri, Assoc. Dean, Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad
• The Medical Curriculum – Some Observations, Prof. Ijaz Ahsan, Dean, University of Lahore
• Pakistan Medical & Dental Council Perspective on Medical Education Reform, by Prof. Sibtul Hasnain, President PMDC
• Modernization of Existing MBBS Program with the Help of Best International Practice, by Prof. Syed Muhammad Awais, Pro-Vice Chancellor, KEMU, Lahore
• Wrap Up of Curriculum Reform Colloquium, by Prof. Muhammad Zafar Ullah Khan, Vice Chancellor, KEMU

The colloquium was widely praised by Pakistani and international participants for its quality and focus. It brought together leaders of many Pakistani medical education reform efforts and international faculty to discuss the latest medical education trends, and the experience gained from reform initiatives already underway in Pakistan. APPNA and KEMCAANA are hopeful that this colloquium will be a catalyst for much needed medical education reform at KEMU and contribute to the reform discussion and initiatives in medical education in Pakistan in general.