WCM-Q and HMC boost physician leadership skills

Doctors trained at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) and physicians from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) completed a rigorous training course designed to enhance their ability to lead, manage and mentor colleagues.

Sixteen consultants, residents and fellows from HMC, six of whom graduated from WCM-Q, convened at the HBKU Student Center to complete the seven-day ILM Level 5 Certificate in Leadership and Management program. The certificate, awarded by the UK-based Institute of Leadership & Management, helps project managers, department heads and middle managers develop a range of skills to improve the performance of the teams they lead.

The participants took workshops on subjects such as management and leadership styles, performance management, decision-making, and presentation and communication skills. The training, delivered by UK firm Leadership Focus, also featured modules on managing change, emotional intelligence, influencing and assertiveness skills, and coaching and mentoring skills. Two more 16-physician cohorts will take the course, one in November and one in December, so that 48 will eventually have completed the training. Of those, 24 are graduates of WCM-Q. 

Dr. Ayobami Omosola, a member of WCM-Q’s first ever graduating class, the Class of 2008, is now a fourth-year cardiology fellow at HMC Heart Hospital. She said: “One of the most useful things was learning about strategic leadership and how to face challenges. We work with extremely capable leaders and you sometimes wonder how they manage it. The course really helped to demystify leadership and show us a path towards being effective, high-performing leaders.”

Dr. Shereen Darwish, a fourth-year senior pediatrics resident at HMC and Sidra Medicine, graduated from WCM-Q in 2016. She said: “The course gave us a great opportunity to learn about different leadership and management styles and work out which of them suits us best. We also got to meet and learn from the experiences of other professionals who were also taking the course.”

The course, coordinated jointly by WCM-Q’s Office of Alumni Affairs and the Office of The Chief Medical Officer at HMC, concluded with a closing ceremony and certificate presentation at which speeches were given by Alia Taub, Chief Executive of Leadership Focus, Dr. Ahmed Zarour, Chief of Acute Surgery and Executive Director Surgical Services at HMC, and Dr. Robert Crone, Vice Dean for Clinical and Faculty Affairs and Professor of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology at WCM-Q.

Dr. Crone said: “For any medical institution to deliver truly excellent healthcare it needs not just great doctors, but also great leaders who are willing and able to take responsibility for maintaining and continuously improving standards. We are very pleased that so many physicians, including a great many WCM-Q alumni, completed this course, which will enable them to take on leadership positions and play very significant roles in the mission to continuously improve healthcare in Qatar.”