Yale Hosts Diabetes Management Training Program for Chinese Physicians

A delegation of 21 physician leaders from throughout China spent three days at Yale in early August for executive and clinical diabetes management training offered by the Yale School of Public Health, the School of Medicine and the School of Management.

The on-campus training is a component of a year-long program that started in Beijing in April 2009 and was organized by Robert W. Makuch, a professor in the Division of Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health. His collaborator is Marguerite Callaway, a lecturer at the school who is also involved in overseas management training programs.

The physicians are trained in diabetes and provide clinical and managerial oversight at major diabetes centers in China. Senior executives from Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that invented synthetic insulin, also participated in the program.

The management-training program included a day-long diabetes symposium led by Dr. Silvio E. Inzucchi, director of the Yale Diabetes Center. Delegates also heard about the latest basic and clinical research on effective therapies for adult onset diabetes and the benefits of greater patient engagement and involvement in the treatment of this chronic disease. This year's multidisciplinary program also featured a talk about decision-making and economic structures by Shyam Sunder, a professor at the School of Management.

"This year-long training program represents a significant step in enhancing health care efficiency and joint research efforts between Yale and China, and toward improving the care and treatment of people with diabetes," says Makuch.

He adds that the program addresses an urgent problem in China, where the number of people with diabetes is expected to double in less than 10 years - to 40 million people. The Chinese government has publicly committed to using a portion of its future Gross Domestic Product toward the development of a health care system that addresses diabetes and other diseases, Makuch says.

The Chinese sponsors of the program are the Chinese Diabetes Society and Novo Nordisk-China. The program was supported with simultaneous language translation by a team of experienced bilingual translators. Delegates also visited New York City and Boston before returning to China.