WCMC-Q Reaches Out to Community with Focus Groups

Dr. Javaid Sheikh discusses strategies for increasing enrollment of
qualified Qatari students with a group of Qatari physicians.

As it strives to increase enrollment among qualified Qatari students, WCMC-Q is engaging local opinion leaders in focus groups about ways to broaden interest in health care careers.

“We appreciate your efforts helping us reach our joint goal, serving the population of Qatar,” Dean Javaid Sheikh told a group of Qatari physicians who participated in a focus group at the medical college in April. “We want to increase enrollment of qualified Qatari students and we’re reaching deep into the community to do that.”

“We are proud to have a college like this in Qatar,” said Dr. Mohamed Salem, senior consultant at Hamad Medical Corporation who attended the session. “It is better to have our children get a quality US education while remaining home in their culture. We welcome the chance to work together to address some of these challenges,” he said.

Some barriers to healthcare careers are cultural problems beyond the purview of WCMC, several of the physicians said. “Becoming a physician requires more years of education and training than many people are willing to endure; that is not a problem WCMC-Q can fix,” says Ganem Al Sulaiti, consultant in at HMC and director of the WCMC-Q neurosurgery residency program.

However, the medical college could do more to provide options for students who do not go into the medical program either by choice or poor performance after the two-year premedical program, according to several physicians at the focus group.

“We are working to make it easier for our students to go to Cornell University in the US or to Qatar University here if they don’t go on to the medical program,” says Bakr Nour, MD associate dean of clinical affairs and professor of surgery who is heading a task force on student recruitment.

The focus group with Qatari physicians followed a similar session in March with high school principals. “As the only medical college in the country, our goal is to increase recruitment of Qatari students,” says Dean Sheikh. “We decided to hold these forums to bring important opinion leaders to our campus to see our facilities first hand, learn more about our program and then share the information with Qatari students.”

Report By: Kristina Goodnough