Liberia

The University of Liberia is a dynamic, forward-looking institution that provides diverse curricula to educate students for life in a rapidly changing world. More than 23,000 students are enrolled in 22-degree programs at the undergraduate, masters, and professional levels. The University prioritizes the development of partnerships across the local and international communities not only to grow but also to share what it has to offer in terms of human and other resources.

The University’s main academic divisions are the College of Health Sciences (ULCHS), College of Social Science and Humanities (Liberia College), the TJR Faulkner College of Science and Technology, the W. V. S. Tubman Teachers College, the William R. Tolbert, Jr. College of Agriculture and Forestry, the College of Business and Public Administration, the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law and the Graduate School.

Founded in 1966, AM Dogliotti School of Medicine (AMD), now housed within the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences (ULCHS) is Liberia’s sole medical school, responsible for producing physicians to serve a population of more than four million people. ULCHS is also home to the country’s sole School of Pharmacy (offering PharmD degree), a School of Public Health (offering MPH), and a new School of Midwifery (offering BSc).

ULCHS launched its Center for Teaching, Learning and Innovation (CTLI) in 2022. CTLI is a public-private-academic hub for research utilization, innovation, inter-professional training, and knowledge generation. Via cutting-edge health sciences educational programming, CTLI connects faculty, students, policymakers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs to optimize research-driven practice throughout the health sector. The aim of the University is to make the CTLI a research utilization hub for West Africa.

The Experiential Learning and Assessment Lab (ELAB) houses CTLI’s clinical simulation education program that trains clinicians to competently and confidently provide patient care through the use of high-fidelity manikins and other standard skills trainers to mimic different clinical scenarios. ELAB’s facilities at the country’s flagship teaching hospital, John F. Kennedy Medical Center, and at the University of Liberia’s Capitol Hill campus allows learners to practice basic procedural skills (IV insertion, catheterization, etc) as well as complex decision making, crisis management and teamwork. Tailored scenarios train care providers in evidence-based best practices and allow them to rehearse new standards of care, elevating their practice based on relevant research findings and new developments in clinical practice.

The John F. Kennedy Medical Center (JFKMC) is a 500-bed capacity facility located in Monrovia and the largest public medical referral and flagship teaching hospital in the country and is comprised of:

• John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital
• Liberian-Japanese Friendship Maternity Hospital
• Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts (a paramedical school)
• E.S. Grant Mental Health Hospital

The Yale School of Medicine has a long history of collaboration with Liberia, starting with JFKMC in 2009 for rotations of Yale Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine residents through the Yale/Stanford J&J Global Health Scholars Program. From 2009 until 2014, 40 residents completed rotations at JFKMC.

Following the 2014 Ebola Virus Epidemic in West Africa, Yale School of Medicine faculty began working closely with senior leadership in the Ministry of Health and the University of Liberia to rebuild the post-Ebola health care and medical education system in Liberia. Based on the Ministry of Health’s Health Workforce Program strategy, Yale School of Medicine committed, with a one-year contract funded by the World Bank, to support and strengthen the Preclinical Medical Education and Internal Medicine Residency program moving towards an independent, self-sustaining, accredited medical training program.

Yale received complementary funding for five and a half more years for Health Workforce Program-related activities under the Resilient and Responsive Health System (RRHS) Initiative funded by the United States President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) March 2017. Yale School of Medicine strengthened health manager training and physician training with a focus on undergraduate medical education design (MD) and implementation as well as an internal medicine residency with five visiting subspecialist faculty members from Sub Saharan Africa. The team also conducted in-service training and quality improvement initiatives at the two largest HIV clinics in Liberia.

Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) from the National Academies of Science/USAID provided a three-year grant from May 2018 - 2020. One West African College of Physician (WACP) member physician completed a Nigerian ID fellowship program, and two physicians who remained in Liberia received their WACP General Medicine Fellowships, and Internal Medicine residents received necessary specialty education from four regional Subspecialist faculty members.

Bringing Research to Impact for Development, Global Engagement and Utilization (BRIDGE-U) Applying Research for a Healthy Liberia, June 2021 – June 2026

BRIDGE-U: Liberia is a 5-year (2021-2026), $15 million, USAID-funded initiative, implemented by the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences (ULCHS) in partnership with prime recipient Yale University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and other public sector and innovation partners. This project centers on eight overarching activity streams to:

• advance research utilization in health and health sciences education for improved health outcomes and equitable economic growth in Liberia;
• develop research utilization skills among Liberia’s current and future health sciences students, faculty, clinicians, policymakers, and entrepreneurs;
• generate new knowledge about how to most effectively translate and utilize research to achieve development goals;
• establish effective institutional systems that will result in sustainable impact.

The project’s cornerstone activity has been to operationalize a Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation (CTLI) at ULCHS. The CTLI houses activities, facilities, and personnel working to utilize research for development impact and to build research utilization capacity throughout the health workforce pipeline, while generating new knowledge about how best to do both. By project’s end, the CTLI will be a national public-private-academic hub for research utilization training and collaboration throughout Liberia’s health sector, supported by institutionalized revenue generation activities and administrative systems.

The CTLI currently houses:

• Faculty development trainings based on existing research;
• A secondary school program, Camp xSEL, designed to prepare young Liberians, especially girls, to pursue higher education in science and to engage with research;
• A Resource Center, building research utilization competencies among ULCHS faculty and students;
• An Experiential Learning and Assessment Lab (ELAB) offering evidence-based simulation trainings to health sciences students and practicing clinicians;
• A Certificate in Evidence-Based Health Policy program for current policymakers;
• Innovation programming focused on identifying, cultivating, and supporting female entrepreneurs to develop commercial applications of health-related research.

To support these programs with complementary institutional capacities, the project team also has a strong collaboration with national regulatory bodies and recently launched a new system for continuing professional development (CPD) for practicing clinicians. In addition, BRIDGE-U Liberia efforts have included a comprehensive gap analysis and capacity building plan for strengthening ULCHS’s Office of Fiduciary Services and Office of Sponsored Research Services which are both well underway.

Collectively, these activities, anchored at ULCHS, continue to increase capacity across Liberia’s health sector in evidence-based health sciences teaching and patient care, utilization of research for health policy-making, innovative commercial applications of health research findings, and sustainable financing for health research and utilization programs.

By establishing these programs within ULCHS and accompanying all educational and training programs with activities to build and sustain institutional capacity, this project will meaningfully contribute to equitable improvements in health outcomes, inclusive economic growth, and increased financial independence for ULCHS.