The University of Minnesota (UOM) established the Office of International Medical Education & Research (IMER) in 1999. The Co-Directors, Regent’s Professor Paul Quie and Professor Philip Peterson appointed Johnite Kumar Belani on the executive committee of IMER. It was the vision of the two leaders of IMER that every medical student commit to at least one international elective rotation or experience before completion of medical school. To this end, they conducted a world wind tour of several countries to establish agreements with top notch medical schools. St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru, India was the chosen site for India. The agreement allowed for an educational and research exchange for medical students and faculty from both campuses. All potential candidates are screened and prepared for this exchange by their individual institutions. Every year 6 medical students are selected from SJMC by the Dean’s committee. These students pick their elective, and the rotations are assigned by the administrator Shannon Benson at the UOM.

Johnites Kumar Belani and Kiran Belani serve as their local host and mentors. In addition to the scores of students that have participated in this externship program at the UOM other individuals have included Rev. Father Patrick Rodrigues, Rev. Father Lawrence Dsouza, Deans Mary Ollapally and Prem Pais, Drs. G D Ravindran, Bobbie Joseph, Arvind Kasthuri, Rema Rajagopalan, Mabel Vasnaik, John Stephen, Ramakrishna Goud, Cecil Ross, Sitalakshmi Subramaniam and others. Senior leaders from the UOM that have conducted workshops and programs at SJMC have included Professors Paul Quie, Philip Peterson, Jonathan Ravdin, Roby Thompson, William Toscano, Deans John Finnegan, Aaron Friedman, Connie Delaney, and Frank Cerra. The Offices of IMER have now merged with the Centers for Global Health and Social Responsibility (CGHSR) at the UOM and the current leader is Dr. Shailey Prasad who is also familiar with and has visited SJMC. Ms. Shannon Benson continues to be the link for this collaboration and is also in charge of arranging rotations for students from the UOM. This has been the first and only program in the USA connecting SJMC officially bidirectionally for their students and faculty.

Details of other partnerships coming soon!