A partnership between the University of California, Davis and the University of Peradeniya, with the Faculty of Medicine leading health sciences participation. It has grown from One Health teacher training into clinical exchange, with Peradeniya medical students spending four weeks at the UC Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento.
The collaboration was initiated by Professor Michael Wilkes of UC Davis and Drs Saumya Wickramasinghe and Eranda Rajapakse of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Peradeniya, who are alumni of UC Davis. They collectively invited other faculties, especially health science related faculties to establish links with UC Davis.
A staff development programme proposed by the Dean of Medicine on behalf of the health sciences faculties and approved by the finance committee. Participant feedback reported to the Vice-Chancellor was extremely positive.
Held at the Faculty with UC Davis as a partner. It gave academic staff of the Faculty of Medicine and other faculties the chance to meet their UC Davis colleagues.
Suggested during discussions between the Dean, academic staff and Prof. Michael Wilkes, and conducted by Prof. Wilkes.
Graduates from UC Davis and Peradeniya studied together, and a pre-intern from the Faculty of Medicine took part. Several UC Davis academic staff visited Peradeniya. The course was funded by UC Davis and its participating students.
Following discussions between Prof. Michael Wilkes, the Dean and the Heads of clinical departments, medical students from Peradeniya were selected to follow a four-week clinical elective at the UC Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento. They were expected to act as ambassadors and strengthen the collaboration. The account below is from Dr. Chandika Athukorala and Dr. Sachini Hettirachchi, who took part.
The students joined the care team alongside attendings, residents, pharmacists and local students. Learning the large electronic medical record system took effort, but their strong grounding in hands-on physical examination helped during pre-rounds and case discussions.
Time was split between Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Trauma Service. The students scrubbed in to assist, practised suturing and knot-tying, watched robotic surgery, and saw teamwork in the Trauma Bay and ER. M&M meetings and Grand Rounds showed how closely the US system focuses on patient safety and multidisciplinary care.
Peradeniya’s strengths in clinical examination and tropical medicine complemented UC Davis’s advanced technology and up-to-date practice, so both sides learned from each other.
Student mentors and the local Sri Lankan community hosted the visitors. They hiked around Lake Tahoe, visited Yosemite and San Francisco, and took road trips to Los Angeles and San Diego.
