Long-standing exchange program allows medical students to complete residencies in foreign hospitals
Vermont Business Magazine A delegation from Tottori, Japan, Vermont’s official sister-state, visited the University of Vermont Medical Center last Thursday to tour the facility where some Japanese medical students have completed their residency through a long-standing exchange program.
Tottori is a rural prefecture with roughly the same population as Vermont. For more than 10 years, Vermont and Tottori have participated in high school and college exchange programs. Dr. Masatoshi Kida, a pathologist at UVM Medical Center, has been involved in a medical student/resident educational exchange program between the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine and several medical schools in Japan.
“The UVM Medical Center is proud to partner with the medical community in Tottori, and we look forward to continuing to foster the strong sister-state relationship Vermont has with the Tottori Prefecture,” said Interim Senior Vice President for Strategic Communications Jason Williams. “Medical students and residents in Vermont and Tottori are gaining valuable knowledge and experience through this partnership.”
Thursday’s visit and tour, led by Dr. Kida and Williams, included Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai, Director of Tourism & Exchange Bureau Shunichi Suzuki, Director of Domestic and International Affairs Division Yasuo Ijima, Section Head of Domestic and International Affairs Division Kota Kageyama, and Domestic and International Affairs Division Coordinator for International Relations Kieran Enright.
The medical exchange program was paused because of the pandemic but will return in the future. Gov. Hirai said he looks forward to resuming medical exchanges between the two states now that the COVID-19 pandemic has receded.
"There have been many medical professionals from both our regions involved in these medical exchanges over the past few decades, and they bring benefit to hospitals in both Vermont and Tottori," Gov. Hirai said.
The relationship between Vermont and Tottori began two decades ago when the Japan America Society of Vermont (JASV) facilitated a meeting between then-Vice Gov. Hirai and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. JASV and the Tottori Prefectural International Exchange Foundation (TPIEF) signed a Sister Organization Agreement that fostered educational and cultural exchanges between adults and students in both regions, including exchanges between students at Tottori University’s Medical School and the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine.
In 2008, Gov. Hirai returned to Vermont to sign a Friendship Agreement with former Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas. Over the next decade, TPIEF and Green Across the World (GATW), a Shoreham-based nonprofit dedicated to cultural and environmental awareness and cooperation, facilitated annual reciprocal exchanges for high school students in Tottori and Vermont.
UVM's Dr. Masatoshi Kida, right, led the tour. UVM courtesy photos.
About the University of Vermont Medical Center
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a 499-bed tertiary care regional referral center providing advanced care to approximately 1 million residents in Vermont and northern New York. Together with our partners at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, we are Vermont’s academic medical center. The University of Vermont Medical Center also serves as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member of The University of Vermont Health Network, an integrated system established to deliver high quality academic medicine to every community we serve.
For more information visit www.UVMHealth.org/MedCenter
Source: 10.25.2023. Burlington, Vt., The University of Vermont Health Network. UVMHealth.org
