UB School of Medicine Advances Push for Regional Accreditation

The University of Belize School of Medicine is finalizing its submission to secure provisional accreditation from the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions, or CAAM-HP.  As part of that effort, representatives from the University of Belize (UB) and the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) traveled to Miramar, Florida, this past week, where they met with counterparts from several leading U.S. medical institutions to gather insight from schools that have successfully navigated the accreditation process.  The roundtable discussion brought together representatives from Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Larkin University and the FVI School of Nursing and Technology. Discussions focused on accreditation standards, curriculum innovation, student success strategies and sustainable funding models for medical education.  UB’s Dean of Medicine, Dr. Lisa Johnston says the Miramar roundtable provided invaluable guidance as the school prepares to complete its submission to CAAM-HP and works toward regional and international recognition.

Dr. Lisa Johnston, Dean of Medicine, UB: “We’re very grateful for the opportunity to talk to the schools that were gathered there. Some of them are quite young in medical school parlance. So they can most understand the pains that we’re going through. So we’re looking for best practices, we’re looking for lessons learned, the forms, the database forms that we have to fill out, the policies and procedures that we need to create, a lot of it is pulled from the American accreditation body for medical education, the LCME. And so there are a lot of things that we are doing and preparing that directly relate to what they have to do and so talking to them about their experiences, accreditation is so important for us as a marker of achievement of what we can do when we do things to the standard it should be done in the way it should be done by the people who should be doing it.”

According to Dr. Johnston, the Florida visit was also an opportunity to build relationships that will support the continued expansion of the medical school. She says the University is actively pursuing partnerships with educational institutions, philanthropic organizations and members of the Belizean diaspora to help fund scholarships, research and future infrastructure.

Dr. Lisa Johnston, Dean of Medicine, UB: “We are also looking at other ways to attract funding including from non-Belizean students wanting to come to our medical school. And once we achieve our provisional accreditation then we can start to market not only to international students but it will prove to both within Belize and outside of Belize that we are eminently capable of doing international standard medical education and it will be done largely by Belizeans.”

The roundtable was organized by Belizean American Desiree Young, who works closely with the Belize Committee in Miramar and serves in a leadership role with the Belize American Chamber of Commerce. Young says bringing together Belizean stakeholders and respected U.S. medical institutions created an important opportunity to strengthen international partnerships that will benefit Belize’s growing medical education sector.  Love News sat down with Young prior to the roundtable event where she spoke on the thought process behind this event. 

Desiree Young, Organizer, Belize Day in Miramar: “Because Belize is such a, you know, the University of Belize is such a young institution it’s great to learn from others and how well things have been done. And you may say but these are institutions in the United States, however, the alignment for accreditation, you know, when it comes to curriculum, when it comes to standardization, and when it comes to residency, is the same as the CCMAHP which the University of Belize is currently actively going after, is aligned with that accreditation. It’s important that Belize becomes this hub where it attracts a lot of foreign students to come to Belize and study in Belize and attract very strong faculty because we need that. We need the strength in the faculty expertise and research and knowledge so that we can help grow and expand the institution. It is very important in order to compete, in order to establish that credibility. Not just within the locally in Belize and across the Caribbean but also across the world. We can become that international institution for many. With the delegation from Belize we also have the Dean of the University of Belize Medical school Dr. Johnston as well as Dr. Renee Nunes will be here and we have the CEO of KHMH and we have the director Dr. Swan that’s here as well.”

UB’s medical programme offers a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree, equivalent to those awarded by the University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana. Students complete the programme over five years through a partnership between the University of Belize and the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, spending their first two years in pre-clinical studies at UB’s Belmopan campus before undertaking three years of clinical training at KHMH.  The University of Belize School of Medicine officially opened in September 2024 and has already welcomed two cohorts of students, with a third expected to begin later this year.