Testimonials

Washington University in St. Louis

Faculty: Kelly Currie, MD, FACS (United States)
Participating in the GAAPS exchange has broadened my view of global surgical education frameworks and reinforced my commitment to competency-based medical education (CBME). By directly observing a parallel training program, I have identified actionable elements – such as detailed goals and objectives and learner self-assessments – that can be adapted to our own residency curriculum. These insights will guide my efforts to continue transforming our program toward a more competency-driven model and to develop international faculty and resident exchange initiatives.

Resident: Kenan Tawaklna, MD (United States)
The program allowed me to form new working relationships and expand my professional network to an international scale. It has given me an understanding of how plastic surgery is practiced outside of the U.S. Working and collaborating with colleagues outside of the U.S. is now a career goal.

Universitas Indonesia

Faculty: Prasetyanugraheni Kreshanti, MD (Indonesia)
Among the significant achievements gained during this experience was establishing the foundation for future collaborative research between the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia (FMUI) and Washington University. Our meeting with the head of research and research fellows, along with the exchange of potential research topics, has fostered mutual academic interests and become a pivotal step towards a meaningful academic partnership in the future. Furthermore, clinically, the program has provided valuable insight into operative and outpatient workflows, particularly through firsthand observation of leading surgeons from the institution, such as Susan MacKinnon, MD.

Resident: Meivita Devianti, MD (Indonesia)
We managed to gain valuable clinical exposure through our visits and observations in the operating room, outpatient clinic and emergency room. Additionally, we also gain non-clinical experience through research lab visits, simulation-based training and visiting professor lectures. As intended, our primary goals during the visit were to work towards conducting research to develop augmented reality, simulation surgery models and hybrid learning models to improve the quality of our graduates. The insights gained from our experience during GAAPS are invaluable and beneficial.

University of Chile Clinical Hospital

Faculty: Cristian Erazo Cortes, MD (Chile)
The visit gives teachers and residents firsthand experience of how things were made in other countries with different cultures. In our case, we found more similarities than differences.

Resident: Matías Toloza Aguayo, MD (Chile)
My experience at Dartmouth University was invaluable. We were able to learn about how they work, their daily routines and the way they use to manage patients in plastic and reconstructive surgery. We came back with a lot of new ideas to improve our medical practice. It was an excellent professional and human experience.

Dartmouth Health Lebanon

Faculty: Michael Matthew, MD (United States)
I was inspired by Dr. Erazo's flexibility in crafting his training program with access to multiple sites to include public and private hospitals and private clinics both in Santiago and the surrounding region. This gives his residents a diverse experience in case and patient mix that allows them to experience the large breadth of plastic surgery before choosing a direction in which to start their career.

Resident: Chen Shen, MD (United States)
I feel the biggest success was realizing that despite differences in location, language and culture, the fundamentals of teaching plastic surgery and the challenges of resident selection, mentoring, graduated clinical responsibility, fostering and funding research, all while also trying to model a balanced life of personal growth, family commitments and well-being, are truly universal.