Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research

WHO Collaborating Centre in Education and Research in Human Reproduction

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1. Mission

The Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER) is a non-profit organisation, co-sponsored by the Department of Health of the Canton of Geneva, the Department of Social Affairs of the City of Geneva, the Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University, and the Geneva Medical Association and  works in close collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). It aims at mobilising resources, both technical and financial, from the public and private sectors. GFMER is a WHO Collaborating Centre in Education and Research in Human Reproduction.

The Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research has as a mandate:

• To conduct training courses in clinical research, mainly in the area of sexual and reproductive health
• To disseminate these training courses to other countries
• To perform Cochrane activities together with the Cochrane Collaboration
• To initiate and provide support for researchers to plan, conduct and publish their scientific work
• To disseminate relevant and up-to-date medical information on the GFMER website
• To be involved in the development of clinical guidelines and training programmes
• To perform the above work in close collaboration with WHO and other partners internationally

The Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research capitalises on the experience as a World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre since 1994.

2. Objectives

2.1 Overall objectives

The overall objectives are to:

• furnish health education programmes and research to:
  • francophone regions
  • developing countries
  • and countries in economic transition
• establish collaboration between entities from the public and private sectors.

2.2 Specific objectives

The specific objectives are to:

• promote the clinical, educational, and scientific collaboration between health professionals working in the private and public sectors in order to create centres of excellence in different medical domains
• offer and provide easy access to relevant, high-quality, up-to-date information through the already existing Web facilities of the WHO Collaborating Centre
• reinforce and mobilise useful expertise so as to anticipate better public health problems
• conduct systematic reviews to identify areas of research and support the development of clinical practical guidelines
• develop a network of individuals and institutions to coordinate research synthesis activities, including Cochrane systematic reviews
• develop Continuing Medical Education (CME) structural and technical guidelines and certification procedures adapted to the health needs of the country
• create a CME body for research and implement a training programme in research synthesis as basis for clinical decision-making
• identify research needs and assist health professionals in the conduct of relevant research activities
• develop clinical training programmes at both national and international levels
• respond to specific requests from developing countries and countries in economic transition and assist in the identification of clinical and research needs and address these needs with adequate training and research programmes
• develop international partnerships and twinning programmes with collaborating institutions and develop a programme for staff exchange

3. Strategy

The Foundation aims at collecting, standardising and streamlining the function of potential technical and financial resources. Using a pool of collaborators and interested parties, and creating important networks, the Foundation is able to assign valuable resources for very targeted and specific purposes. Scientific Committees, Technical Working Groups and Management Review Groups will be established to monitor and guide the activities of each project.

4. Collaborators

The possible collaborators and interested parties are:

• Geneva Department of Health (Département de l'action sociale et de la santé)
• Geneva University Hospital
• Faculty of Medicine of Geneva
• Geneva Medical Association
• WHO, Geneva
• Medical specialist societies
• Governmental and private health organisations
• Private clinics and laboratories

5. Structure

5.1 Foundation Council

The members of the Foundation Council are:

• Prof. Aldo Campana (President and Founding Member)
• Dr. Blaise Bourrit (Secretary and Founding Member)
• Prof. Fritz Baumann
• Prof. Karl-Heinz Krause
• Prof. François Rieger
• P.D. Dr. Pierre Meyer
• Prof. Willy Pasini
• Prof. Charles-Henry Rochat
• Dr. José Villar

5.2 Executive Committee

The members of the Executive Committee are:

• Prof. Aldo Campana
• Dr. Blaise Bourrit
• Prof. Giuseppe Benagiano
• Dr. Regina Kulier
• Dr. Daniel Christiaen
• Dr. Hongguang Dong

This group will assist and accommodate project managers to undertake a project under the auspices of the Foundation following the standard development of scientific protocols; project development and formulation, conduct, report writing and evaluation; management issues, networking, etc.
In addition, the group will develop structural and technical guidelines of the Foundation (modus operandi) as well as its certification procedures.

5.3 Steering Committee

The members of the Steering Committee are:

• The members of the Executive Committee
• Ad hoc peer reviewers
• Principal interested parties

The main function of the Steering Committee will be to review and evaluate the project activities of the Foundation. In its review procedure, it will also provide topic-specific technical guidance and advice to project managers. It will take decisions based on priority assessment in terms of public health, and whether or not a project is fit to be conducted within the mandate of the Foundation. The Steering Committee will consist of representatives of principal interested parties and ad hoc peer reviewers for adequate technical and scientific assessment. The World Health Organization will be invited as a partner of a joint committee for the evaluation of submitted projects.
The Steering Committee will report to the Foundation Council.

5.4 Project Managers

Project managers could represent any medical field and be active in any of the following areas: clinical training, research training, research projects, research synthesis, Matweb: expansion, dissemination of information and networking, virtual training. Project managers will have their projects reviewed by the Steering Committee of the Foundation.

5.5 Controller

The Controller inspects the accounts of the Foundation.

5.6 Financial Partners

The following sources have been identified as potential donors for this initiative:

• Geneva Department of Health
• Department of Social Affairs of the City of Geneva
• Faculty of Medicine of Geneva
• International organisations
• Governmental and private health organisations
• Foundations and NGOs
• Private industry
• Private clinics and laboratories
• Representatives of the donor organisations will be invited to an annual meeting in which reports on the past financial year will be presented as well as the request for pledges for the coming year’s activities

6. Address

Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Villa Grand-Montfleury
Chemin du Grand-Montfleury 48
1290 Versoix - Switzerland

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Edited by Aldo Campana,