HMI, seeking to deepen global impact, will become Partners Harvard Medical International

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Harvard University and Partners HealthCare System have reached an agreement that will enable Harvard Medical International (HMI) to become Partners Harvard Medical International (PHMI).

Under this agreement, the organization will become part of the Partners HealthCare family, joining a major academic health care network that includes leading Harvard-affiliated institutions Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital. As PHMI, the organization will continue to draw upon the experience and expertise of faculty and staff across Harvard University, on the Quad at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and at all of the HMS-affiliated teaching hospitals and institutes, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Children’s Hospital, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

“HMI’s work since its inception has been possible in large part due to the unwavering support from the leadership of Harvard Medical School, as well as the tremendous intellectual resources of its faculty,” said Andrew A. Jeon, MD, MBA, Acting President and Chief Executive Officer. “We anticipate that in our new affiliation with Partners, we will be able to expand our mission to increase access to quality health care in countries across the world, while maintaining a vital academic partnership with the Medical School and its affiliated institutions.”

This transition comes as the result of discussions between Partners and Harvard about the best positioning of HMI for the future. Over the course of HMI’s 14-year history, its HMI portfolio has expanded beyond the organization’s original charter to extend the Medical School’s tradition of academic excellence to include a wide array of service capabilities.

“Today, in addition to working with clients to develop greenfield schools to train health care professionals, and helping existing academic institutions to innovate and improve, we are also deeply committed to pursuing collaborations focused on building sustainable models for clinical and operational excellence and designing strategies for workforce development in the health care settings,” said S. Bruce Dowton, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Dowton added that going forward, PHMI would be able to provide to clients a more comprehensive range of academic and clinical services, including facilities management, consulting services, and training of allied health care professionals.

HMI was founded in 1994 as a self-supporting, not-for-profit subsidiary of Harvard University. It has used its close links to the Medical School, its faculty, and its affiliated institutions to extend the Medical School's tradition of improving the quality of health care through excellence in clinical medicine, medical education, and biomedical research to a global community. Through numerous relationships with health care delivery organizations, academic medical institutions, and other key stakeholders, HMI has played a major role in the development of health and education infrastructure abroad. HMI’s more than 50 programs have provided training and education for hundreds of physicians, nurses, health care leaders, and medical students from around the world. Collaborations based on clinical and administrative quality improvement have led to regional, national, and international recognition for HMI and its client institutions.  

Dr. Jeon said that as PHMI, the organization will be positioned to better serve clients around the world, and join them in addressing the major challenges facing rapidly evolving health care communities today. “Our global mission to increase access to high-quality care remains in place. We will continue to join with institutions around the world whose own efforts help to alleviate the global shortage of well-trained health care professionals, educators, and scientists, and develop the critical clinical, administrative, and intellectual resources and systems required to support high-quality patient care,” said Jeon.

Partners Harvard Medical International will honor all obligations to existing HMI clients, and retain its current staff to ensure that ongoing projects benefit from a continuity of management and the expanded capabilities of the new arrangement. The PHMI team brings together a diversity of knowledge and experience touching every corner of health care and education. Its senior leadership group includes members of the Harvard University faculty, the full-time staff includes experienced professionals from the fields of medicine, nursing, education, research, medical planning, architecture and design, health information technology, business strategy development, and leadership and management training.

In addition to working with faculty and staff at the Medical School and its affiliates, PHMI's programs will also continue to foster collaborations with faculty at Harvard's schools of business, education, government, and public health.

“Partners is very pleased to have an opportunity to increase our involvement in the international health care arena by collaborating with a well-established organization that has an excellent reputation around the world,” said Jay B. Pieper, Vice President of Partners HealthCare and President of Partners International Medical Services. “Harvard Medical School’s reputation for medical education, HMI’s knowledge and experience in the global health care arena, and Partners’ extensive clinical resources create a formidable synergy. This will permit PHMI to take the international contributions and engagements of our faculty and institutions to a higher level.”

To learn more about the transition of Harvard Medical International to Partners Harvard Medical International, visit our website.