DEC. 3, 2004 |The long-standing partnership between the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Volgograd Medical University (VMU) in Russia made a technological leap recently as the two institutions held their first Internet video conference.

The conference on reproductive health, held Nov. 1-2, started each day at 4 p.m. in the Marble Hall at VMU and at 7 a.m. in a UAMS office in the University Tower Building at UAMS in Little Rock. It was the first time VMU has used video conferencing with UAMS. The conference was sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the American International Health Alliance (AIHA).

“The technology was flawless and it was amazing to be able to accomplish such a tremendous exchange of information with our friends in Volgograd in such a short amount of time,” said Charles O. Cranford, D.D.S., vice chancellor of Regional Programs for UAMS and executive director of the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program.

Cranford said that the UAMS-VMU International Health Partnership typically sends delegations between the two locations about twice a year, but through video conferencing, many more health professionals can be involved in the exchange. He said it also doesn’t take the participants away from their busy schedules.

Through the Internet, Nancy Andrews Collins, M.D., associate professor and director of the division of gynecology in the UAMS College of Medicine, presented “Women’s Health Care: Family Planning” to about 70 attendees in the main conference room at VMU. As many as 100 people watched via a large television in the lobby. About 10 participants from VMU also presented information to their colleagues and UAMS attendees.

Others from UAMS sitting in on the conference were E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., vice chancellor and dean of the UAMS College of Medicine; Ann Bynum, director of the Rural Hospital Program; Donna McNair, Regional Programs Community Relations and AIHA coordinator; and Angelina Levitskaya, Regional Programs associate director of VMU Partnership.

The UAMS-Volgograd Health Partnership began in 1993 at the request of Russian doctors who needed technical assistance and training to improve health care quality and delivery in Volgograd. Cranford agreed to assist VMU, the second largest medical center in Russia. In the beginning, UAMS physicians paid their own expenses to travel to VMU to lecture on family medicine, tuberculosis management and other medical topics. In 2000, the partnership gained funding through USAID and AIHA.

Through the partnership, Russian doctors and nurses have trained in family medicine at the statewide UAMS Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) at UAMS and in the Arkansas Department of Health. Many local, state level and national professional medical organizations have participated in the education of these Russian partners.

Other Internet video conferences are planned in 2005, along with actual visits between the two medical facilities.