Catching up with 10,000 Women Scholars

(From left to right) Dr. Liu Xianghong showcases the vaccination station for children to Yu Liu, Yale, and Jia Lu, Tsinghua SEM.

       On July 5th, 2011, Dr. Elizabeth Bradley, Faculty Director of Yale GHLI and Faculty Co-chair of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women: Yale-Tsinghua Certificate Program in International Healthcare Management, and I had the pleasure of visiting program scholars and seeing first-hand how tools provided through our teachings are not only being used, but have helped the participants in their daily work beyond what we could have ever imagined when designing program plans.

We met with two scholars, Dr. Kong Lingwei, director of Beijing Jiaotong University Community Health Center and Dr. Liu Xianghong, assistant director of Desheng Community Center, located in Beijing as part of the scholar-visit plan by Yale and Tsinghua.

Our delegation’s first stop was the Beijing Jiaotong University Community Health Center, where we toured the center’s medical record room and chronic disease management center. Dr. Kong also showed us a project she has worked on using the scientific problem solving methodology she learning during her time in the 10,000 Women Program. She demonstrated the computerized implementation she was utilizing, which Dr. Bradley described as “a beautiful example of clearly defined goals, timelines and task responsibilities.”

Our next stop was the Desheng Community Center, where we were given a tour of the vaccination center for children, chronic disease management center, and patient check-up center, as well as listened to Dr. Liu’s report about performance evaluation for the community center. It was obvious that Dr. Liu’s team had brainstormed about creative ways to improve the patient experience at the pediatric vaccination center. They had redesigned where and how the children received their vaccinations, all with the intent of minimizing the trauma of the vaccination process.

During conversations with me, Dr. Bradley, and the other Yale faculty members in our delegation, Dr. Kong and Dr. Liu expressed to us how helpful the courses were for their management skills and career development, especially the problem solving methodology. “I have used the content from leadership, and strategic planning to influence coworkers as well as my boss in my community center,” said Dr. Liu.

Dr. Kong also said that the 10,000 Women Program made her more passionate about her work at the Community Center and believes that with all the management tools she has learned from the program, she can take the center to a much higher level.

Both women praised the confidence they gained from the 10,000 Women Program. “I am confident that I can be a great leader of a community center,” said Dr. Liu. Our visit was much too short, but very fulfilling and reaffirming to know that our program has such a positive impact on our participants when they return to their daily lives.

Martha Dale, director for China programs, Yale Global Health Leadership Institute