WVU works with Kuwait University’s Faculty of Medicine on new international accreditation standards

West Virginia University efforts to assist global communities in improving healthcare date back many years. For the past two decades, Kuwaiti students have been coming to the WVU Schools of Dentistry and, more recently, Medicine to learn skills necessary to care for patients in their native country. In addition to preparing highly qualified physicians and dentists to meet the health needs in Kuwait, WVU has benefitted from the cultural infusion of Kuwaiti students.

“Our partnership with the government of Kuwait is one of our longest-running and deepest international collaborations,” said Christopher Martin, M.D., director of the Health Sciences Center’s Global Engagement Office. “It is the largest such agreement with any U.S. university. The fact that Kuwait sends us so many of their best and brightest young students – future healthcare leaders – is a testament that that WVU is a world-class university.”

Effective in 2023, physicians applying for Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification will be required to graduate from a medical school that has been appropriately accredited. In the United States, international medical graduates (IMGs) comprise one-quarter of the physician workforce. The ability to achieve ECFMG certification is a key determinant of IMGs’ readiness to enter the U.S. health care system

In light of that announcement, Dr. Martin will address the Faculty of Medicine at Kuwait University’s academic accreditation conference in February at Abdul-Razzak auditorium.

This conference, to which all deans of medical schools in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been invited, was organized to help these schools understand what they need to do to meet U.S. accreditation requirements. Dr. Martin, along with other international speakers, will discuss the process of accreditation.