On June 23, the new “Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital and Loma Linda University Health International Training Academy for Healthcare,” a joint collaborative effort known as SALITAH, held its opening ceremony in Hangzhou, China.
SALITAH is a short-term training program for fellows in China, potentially including international trainees in the future. Fellows may choose between training in general surgery or cardiology; in the future, additional specialties may be added. The program ranges from two months to two years, depending on the chosen specialty. Each specialty topic offers four significant modules: clinical skills, teaching training, communication management, and an opportunity to be selected for a 2-week in-person experience at LLUH.
SALITAH’s opening ceremony featured lectures from Daniel Giang, MD, LLUH’s Vice President for Graduate Medical Education; Howard Lan, DO, Interventional Cardiology Assistant Professor of Medicine; and Dustin Smith, MD, Medical Director for the Clinical Skills Education Center. SRRSH and LLUH leadership also attended the ceremony, including Xiujun Cai, MD, President of SRRSH; He Huang, MD, Vice President of SRRSH; and Richard Hart, MD, DrPH, president of LLUH. “SALITAH will focus on advanced clinical training, both for SRRSH’s physicians as well as those from other parts of China and even internationally,” says Hart. “This program will build on the incredible reputation that SRRSH has developed in the clinical world for advanced techniques of various kinds. “
The short-term training program will include online and offline classes and workshops taught by physicians and professors from both SRRSH and LLUH, virtual simulation training, clinical observation, and clinical hands-on learning at SRRSH. “The establishment of SALITAH signifies an important achievement in our international cooperation in medical education,” says Huang. “The longstanding collaboration between Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital and Loma Linda University Health has laid a solid foundation for our continuous cooperation and exchange in medical education and training.
Establishing this international health training academy holds significant importance for both institutions. SALITAH will facilitate SRRSH and LLUH to exchange their best teaching practices and methods, serve as a hub for joint projects, enable faculty teams to share resources and knowledge from their institutions, collaboratively address challenges, explore cutting-edge medical technologies, and contribute to developing evidence-based clinical practices. Faculty and students can broaden their experiences with different healthcare systems and contribute new solutions to complex global issues. “The establishment of SALITAH represents another exciting chapter in the collaborative history of SRRSH and LLUH. By jointly nurturing a new generation of healthcare professionals who are compassionate, highly skilled, and possess a global perspective, we can collectively make a lasting impact on the future of clinical medicine and healthcare,” says Huang.