Massage from DR Rahmati

Dr Rahmati International Message

Message of Dean of International Affairs

Dean: Dr. Rahmati Title/Position: Dean of International Affairs, SHMU

Fostering Global Partnerships for Health Excellence

It is my pleasure, as the Dean of International Affairs at Shahrood University of Medical Sciences (SHMU), to address our esteemed international audience. Our commitment at SHMU is deeply rooted in cultivating an internationally
recognized environment for medical education, research, and community health.

The Vision of Internationalization at SHMU

Shahrood University of Medical Sciences operates under a strategic imperative to transcend national boundaries in the pursuit of medical advancement and educational rigor. Our vision is not merely to host international visitors, but to fully integrate global perspectives into the core fabric of our academic and clinical endeavors. This integration is vital for addressing the increasingly complex challenges facing global health today. We recognize that medical breakthroughs rarely occur in isolation; they are the result of diverse minds collaborating across geographical and cultural landscapes.

The Role of the Office of International Affairs

As the focal point for global engagement, my office is dedicated to simplifying the path for international collaboration. We understand that navigating the intricacies of international academic and administrative processes can be daunting. Therefore, our primary function is to act as the central facilitating body, ensuring seamless interactions between SHMU and its global counterparts.

Our core responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

1. Program Management and Coordination: We actively manage exchange programs, ensuring clear articulation agreements, credit transfer
mechanisms, and adherence to international standards. This includes coordinating student mobility for both inbound and outbound participants in undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

2. Joint Research Initiatives: We serve as the liaison for establishing and monitoring collaborative research projects. This involves identifying potential areas of synergistic research—ranging from epidemiology and clinical trials to biomedical engineering—and providing the necessary administrative scaffolding to support these endeavors. For instance, in setting up collaborative pharmacokinetic studies, we ensure compliance with ethical review board requirements, often involving complex data sharing agreements, denoted mathematically as:

1. Student Support Services: We ensure that our international students receive unparalleled support across all four of our academic units. This
comprehensive support system covers every aspect of their tenure at SHMU:

◦ Pre-arrival Logistics: Visa procurement, housing allocation, and       cultural orientation.

◦ Academic Advising: Ensuring alignment between their home
institution curricula and SHMU's rigorous standards, particularly in fields like clinical rotations where procedural competency must be verified using standardized metrics (e.g., Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) scores).

◦ Well-being and Integration: Providing continuous support to ensure             their academic and personal success within the Iranian context.

Academic Units and International Scope

The breadth of SHMU’s international outreach spans the entirety of our specialized faculties:

• Faculty of Medicine: Focusing on complex clinical research partnerships and residency/fellowship exchange.

• Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery: Engaging in collaborative studies on maternal health outcomes and nursing education methodologies, often comparing healthcare delivery models across different economic spectra.

Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences: Exploring technological advancements•
in laboratory sciences, radiologic technology, and physical therapy, often requiring the exchange of specialized equipment protocols.

• Faculty of Public Health: Leading initiatives focused on environmental health, infectious disease surveillance, and health policy development, areas where global datasets are critical for meaningful analysis.

Commitment to Global Health Equity

We view our international relationships not just as partnerships, but as essential components in achieving global health equity. Health disparities are a persistent global challenge, and addressing them requires a unified, global approach. By integrating international students and faculty, we expose our domestic trainees to diverse epidemiological profiles and socio-cultural determinants of health, thereby broadening their capacity for culturally competent care.

This commitment is operationalized through joint projects aimed at addressing health challenges prevalent in lower- and middle-income countries, striving to disseminate knowledge that can lead to measurable improvements in population health indicators, such as the sustained reduction in the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR):

where $g_{partnership}$ is the growth reduction factor attributed to international collaboration efforts, and $\delta$ represents baseline systemic improvements.