January 12, 2012
UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences enlists in Joining Forces initiative
GRAND FORKS, N.D.—The University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences is a proud participant in the White House’s Joining Forces initiative to serve veterans and their families. The UND SMHS has joined other members of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in the AAMC’s effort to implement the Joining Forces initiative nationwide in medical schools. This effort is designed to achieve two basic goals: (1) greater understanding by our students of the unique clinical challenges of caring for military service members, veterans, and their families; and (2) enhanced health care and community-support for patients and families dealing with combat-related conditions like traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Further details regarding the Joining Forces initiative were announced by the association in a news release yesterday: https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/270996/120111.html
Through its long-standing affiliation with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fargo, the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences provides post-MD medical education and patient care, where resident physicians learn quality management of chronic long-term illnesses and about problems unique to veterans.
For nearly five years, the School’s Center for Rural Health has worked to help veterans and their families through its Traumatic Brain Injury Program, participating on the Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee, and research on infectious diseases in returning veterans and on reducing hospital readmissions through follow-up care for veterans.
The School’s broad-reaching program will be cross-disciplinary, and will involve both the medical and health sciences faculty. Leading the Joining Forces effort at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences will be Eric Murphy, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Therapeutics.
# # #
Contact: Denis MacLeod, assistant director, Office of Alumni and Community Relations, UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, (701) 777-2733, denis.macleod@med.und.edu
