Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC), one of the UAE’s largest hospitals and a joint-venture partnership between Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) and Mayo Clinic, has signed an agreement with Royal College Canada International (RCI) to enhance postgraduate medical education in Abu Dhabi.

Overall, the agreement will help facilitate SSMC’s application for Royal College Institutional and Program Accreditation. This will enable SSMC trainees, who have successfully completed all their postgraduate medical education (PGME) training, to undertake the specialty and subspecialty certification exams of the Royal College, and become eligible to receive the Royal College certification.

In addition, the collaboration will improve access to sub-specialization and fellowship-training opportunities in Canadian programs by facilitating introductions to Canadian programs. Moreover, it will also advance SSMC’s aim of strengthening PGME research capacity and infrastructure for faculty and resident trainees under the supervision of SSMC, including a program to train and develop clinician investigators.

Dr. Naser Ammash, chief executive officer at SSMC, said: “Education, innovation and research are the propeller of clinical practice and play a major role in building the complex care destination medical center that aligns with  SSMC and Mayo Clinic model of health care delivery. SSMC’s three shields mission is one key differentiator for the destination medical center. We have a great opportunity through the education shield and its 5 centers to enhance medical education offerings and train the next generation of health care professionals and leaders. We are delighted to be working alongside RCI to nurture the medical knowledge and skills of our faculty to be better educators for the large number of learners we currently host at SSMC. This will also allow us to achieve some of our strategic priorities related to  building the right workforce to deliver trusted quality and exceptional services in respond to the evolving health care needs of the patients in the region, and become the preferred integrated multispecialty health care destination 

Dr. Abba Zubair, dean of Education at SSMC, said: “We look forward to collaborating with RCI, as part of our commitment at SSMC to create an optimal education ecosystem, comprehensive of opportunities that combine medical practice and education to help broaden the knowledge and skillset of our faculty. At SSMC, our enhanced focus on transforming the way we develop our medical professionals means that we are always looking at how we can utilize the best tools and ingredients to build a conducive, nurturing, and educational environment.”

Dr. Naser Ammash and Dr. Susan D. Moffatt-Bruce, the president and CEO of RCI, signed the exchange of agreement and chaired the signing ceremony of the convention. Additionally, the Executive Director of the International Collaboration Office, Mr. Craig Ceppetelli, Dr. Abba Zubair, Dr. Rola Al Hayek, the Education director, Dr. Abdulkarim Saleh, the associate dean of the GME Center at SSMC, and Ms. Reem Al Husari, the GME Center administrator, were also in attendance.