By Steven Lewis and Wolfgang Grisold
Prof. Mohamed El Tamawy of the department of neurology at Cairo University.
The department of neurology of Cairo University will be a World Federation of Neurology (WFN) Teaching Center for neurology training beginning in 2015. On March 20, the dean and departmental leadership and faculty welcomed an educational visiting committee of Steven Lewis, chair of the Education Committee; Wolfgang Grisold, co-chair and secretary general; and Riadh Goudier, trustee and president of the Panafrican Society.
As part of the application to become a WFN Teaching Center, and prior to the site visit, the department had been asked to write structured reports on their clinical teaching program, including detailed written surveys from faculty members and trainees.
On the day of the visit, the faculties of the clinical and research departments were introduced, followed by personal interviews by the visiting committee with trainees and teachers. These interviews focused on work conditions and cooperation within the department and the hospital. A formal round through the wards followed these interviews. Patient wards, investigational laboratories and outpatient facilities were explained and inspected by the WFN committee. In a final conference, an exchange of opinions, discussion of structure and academic discussions took place. Subsequently, the trustees of the WFN received a report from the site visit team recommending the establishment of a WFN Teaching Center in Cairo.
WFN Teaching Centers are being established to improve training of neurologists in Africa, and Cairo will join the first Teaching Center in Rabat, Morocco, which has been running a WFN teaching program since 2014. The WFN is convinced that supporting high-quality Teaching Centers in Africa will improve the quality of training neurologists and lead to additional high-quality institutions of training in neurology in Africa.
The WFN is grateful to the leadership and faculty of the department of neurology at Cairo University for its commitment to improving the training of neurologists within Africa, and I look forward to a long and successful collaboration in these efforts.
