The Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek, within the framework of the Fulbright Specialist Program sponsored in the Republic of Croatia by the American Embassy, the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia and the Agency for Mobility and EU Programs of the Republic of Croatia, is organizing the training "Enhancement of Academic Hepatology", which started on October 2, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. in the premises of the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek.
A major educational challenge for busy clinicians is to remain current with clinical, scientific, and educational developments. Yet, remaining up-to-date is key to providing optimal healthcare, competitive research, and effective teaching. There have been major advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of many liver diseases. Liver disease constitutes an enormous health problem that affects millions of people worldwide and is a major burden on healthcare systems in Europe including Croatia. Fatty liver disease, drug-induced liver disease, hepatitis C, hepatitis B viral infections, and autoimmune hepatitis are the most common liver diseases in Croatia. It is important for healthcare professionals to remain current with medical knowledge to maintain optimal healthcare. Another educational challenge is to make physician-scientists aware of the importance of the protection of intellectual property. Awareness can lead to commercialization opportunities and the development of novel medical treatments as well as a potential source of research funding. On the other hand, simply following the theoretical paradigm of publication of articles and submission of grant applications can lead to the loss of such opportunities. Knowledge of the fundamentals of intellectual property protection is vital to avoid this. Finally, with the great advances in hepatology, it has been increasingly difficult to impart the ever-increasing body of knowledge to new generations of health professionals. In the US, it has been recognized that active self-learning is a more effective educational method than passive absorption of knowledge. For this reason, lecture-based curricula have been largely replaced by case-based curricula. However, case-based curricula have not been widely adopted in Croatia. Therefore, another challenge is to make Croatian healthcare educators aware of the advantages and disadvantages of case-based curricula, and the process by which such curricula can be implemented. Implementing some of these techniques may improve the quality of healthcare education in Croatia. Professor Wu is an acclaimed teacher, physician, and scientist with knowledge and experience in all these areas and is uniquely qualified to support our institution by instruction in the above areas.
The lecturer is Prof. Ph.D. George Y. Wu, Fulbright specialist, permanent professor at the University of Connecticut, USA, visiting professor at the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Osijek. This program has been created based on Professor Wu's experience as a Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology-Hepatology, Section Chief of Hepatology, creator and expert discussant of all the liver disease curricula at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology, and an awardee of 11 US patents. Lectures and exercises are intended for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students of the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, as well as teachers and assistants of the Faculty, as well as anyone interested.
