This program is organised jointly between the department of SPM and the Keck School of Medicine, USC. The student exchange program was the brainchild of Prof Dr Maznah Dahlui and Prof Elahe of USC through their involvement in APACPH consortium.

The discussions between the organising committee (SPM was represented by Prof Dr Maznah, Assoc Prof Dr Nabilla, Assoc Prof Dr Claire and Ms Nur Hashimah Kaman Redzawan while USC was represented by Dr Elahe and Dr Yahya) started in late 2014 and was originally scheduled in 2015 but due to logistic problems was rescheduled to early 2016. The main objective of this program was to provide insight and comprehensive exposures on Malaysia’s healthcare systems and the innovations within the system.

The group that attended the program was made up of 12 Master of Science students (all Americans) and one academic
supervisor (Dr Yahya Shaikh). The program comprised of lectures and visits to healthcare facilities. The lecture
sessions were Overview of the Malaysian Health Care System (Prof Dr Maznah Dahlui), Modeling Needs and Identifying Needed Tools (Assoc Prof Dr Tin Tin Su, ‘Identifying and Meeting the Health Needs of Malaysians – How Have We Fared?’ (Assoc Prof Dr Ng Chiu Wan), ‘Rural and Urban Health Needs in Malaysia’ (Assoc Prof Dr Noran Naqiah Hairi), and ‘Cultural Influences on Healthcare Utilisation in Malaysia’ (Assoc Prof Dr Nabilla Al-Sadat Abdul Mohsein). In their visits to the various healthcare facilities, the students had the chance to observe the school within the hospital, sports and rehabilitative unit in UMMC, the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Unit (TCM) in the Port Dickson Hospital, the National Health Community program (KOSPEN), Communication for Behavioural Impact (COMBI) program, i-Jejak, and e-dengue in the Port Dickson District Health Centre, Ministry of Health innovative programs such as the Cluster Hospital, SMS and Pick Up Pharmacy in the Putrajaya Hospital. The students felt that this exchange program was beneficial for future health care practitioners like them. They have expressed interest to collaborate more with the University of Malaya and hopefully to share novel healthcare ideas and plans in the future.