Staff Reporter
THE Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) has crossed a major milestone by starting its first batch of medical programme and admitting the biggest-ever batch to pre-medical programme.
“There are 16 students in the first batch of medical programme and 48 for the newest batch of pre-medical programme,” Cornell University president Jeffrey Sean Lehman said yesterday.
The traditional ‘white coat’ ceremony for the first batch of medical students (Class of 2008) is scheduled today at WCMC-Q at Qatar Foundation’s Education City.
All but two students of the first batch, for the four-year medical programme that leads to Cornell University’s Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree, are from the first batch of pre-medical programme, which opened in fall 2002 with a total of 27 students.
Upon graduation, the Class of 2008, the first medical graduates educated in Qatar, will also be the first students ever to graduate from a branch of the WCMC of Cornell University that is located outside the US.
Asked about the students of the first pre-medical batch who do not feature in the first medical batch, Lehman said some decided medical school was not for them while others are taking an extra year to start the medical programme.
“I should say that the percentage, of pre-medical students who have got admission to the medical programme, is higher in WCMC-Q, compared to the parent campus,” he explained.
A group of students from the Class of 2008 participated in research projects at WCMC in New York and at Cornell University during the summer vacation. This was the second year that summer research experience was offered to select WCMC-Q students.
“The medical students at New York have requested to be sent to WCMC-Q for a semester and we are working on it,” the official said.
Lehman recalled WCMC-Q students telling him during his visit in March this year that they would like to have more interaction with fellow students in Ithaca.
“Ever since, they are having weekly telephone and video conferences,” he said.
In reply to a question, Lehman said Cornell was not likely to establish another full-fledged campus like WCMC-Q elsewhere in the Middle East though the success of the Qatar campus has brought forth some offers.
“However, we will continue to have different kinds of partnership relationships in the region,” he observed.
Lehman, who described Education City as an extraordinary visionary project, recalled leaders of the Economic Development Forum telling him in Singapore recently about emulating the project.
“The experience of working with HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and HH Sheikha Mozah Nasser al-Misnad is one of the most satisfying I have had as the president of Cornell,” he added.
Lehman will be present today at the signing of an affiliation agreement, between the Hamad Medical Corporation, WCMC and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
The Cornell president is also to participate in a meeting of the joint advisory board of WCMC-Q that has representatives from both Qatar Foundation and Cornell University. |
