Late last fall, the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) Office of International Medicine Programs (IMP) directed a successful five-day continuing medical education (CME) course addressing Precision Medicine: Concepts, Methods and Clinical Implementation.
Physicians from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, attended the five-day course, which focused on preparing them to adopt the principles of precision medicine, an emerging model of the application of molecular genetics in health care delivery.
The precision medicine course is part of GW’s ongoing CME programming. Since the course was launched, IMP has been working on developing a number of other courses within the field, including on topics such as pharmacogenomics, biobanking and biorepository, oncology, and emergency medicine, in addition to advanced areas outside of precision medicine. Courses will be held both in the U.S. and at international institutions and will be facilitated by SMHS faculty members who are leading experts in their respective fields.
CME courses are designed to train physicians to maintain competency in their fields and stay up-to-date with new developments, skills, and methods of delivery in their specialties. In addition, many physicians are required to earn a certain number of credits each year to maintain their medical licenses and credentials. Physicians can therefore participate in CME programs as a way to earn American Medical Association credit certified by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, the leading accrediting body.
IMP is currently in the process of expanding and offering more innovative and engaging CME courses online, which would provide more flexibility and potentially open up courses to a much larger number of attendees. By boosting the number of CME opportunities for physicians and other health care professionals, IMP continues to advance its mission of building the health care capacities of countries around the world.