10. eCampusOntario
eCampusOntario is a Canadian non-profit organisation that leads a consortium of publicly-funded colleges, universities and indigenous institutes to test digital learning tools. It is currently spearheading an initiative with Lumeto, the immersive learning company behind virtual reality platform Involve XR. This is providing training to frontline healthcare workers in specialties like wound management, mental health de-escalation, and respiratory distress.
9. Healthcare Leadership Academy
The Healthcare Leadership Academy (HLA) is a British initiative formed to provide young clinicians and medical students with leadership skills. Its aim is to inspire the next generation of healthcare professionals with mentoring, discussion, and philosophy.
The Academy’s HLA:IDEAS programme has a mission to create change and is aimed at underrepresented or underprivileged communities. Its most recent cohort includes 6 very different organisations such as In2MedSchool which provides free mentoring to underprivileged school and college students aspiring to study medicine, and the African Caribbean Medical Mentors which supports current and future black doctors and dentists.
8. The Ohio State University
One of the top 12 public research universities in the US, Ohio State University’s medical department has four centres: the College of Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The James Cancer Hospital and the Wexner Medical Center.
The cancer centre is one of 51 National Cancer Institute-designated centres, and one of only a few places funded to conduct both phase I and phase II clinical trials on novel anticancer drugs. Internationally-renowned oncologists are based here, and there is a strong focus on advanced technologies such as robotic surgery and computer- aided colonoscopies.
7. Edge Hill University
In June one of the university’s academics, Dr Peter Leadbetter, won an award for leadership and commitment to widening participation in medicine. Edge Hill has previously held the UK University of the Year title (2014/15), awarded by Times Higher Education.
6. National University Hospital, Singapore
This hospital opened in 1985 as Singapore’s first restructured hospital. Each year, it cares for more than one million patients and is now the country’s main teaching hospital, playing a key role in the training of doctors, nurses, allied health and other healthcare professionals. There are three national specialty centres for cancer, heart disease and oral health.
Translational research is very important to this hospital; clinicians and scientists from Singapore’s National University Hospital recently partnered with fellow institutions and clinicians in the UK to develop a device that reduces numbness and pain caused by certain anti-cancer therapies. There is currently no prevention or treatment for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a severe side-effect of chemotherapy drugs.
5. Northwestern Health Sciences University
This university in Minnesota was first founded in 1941 as Northwestern College of Chiropractic. It has since grown into a large health system with a variety of clinics and services on its Bloomington campus, in the Twin Cities metro area, and in other states.
The clinics serve a variety of populations, and all incorporate students into their services for them to gain clinical experience, with a particular focus on training the “behind-the-scenes” professionals like lab scientists, radiology technicians and medical assistants, enabling them to analyse medical samples and scans. It also offers programmes in nutrition, acupuncture and massage therapists.
4. Nottingham Trent University
This award-winning university was named University of the Year 2019 by the Guardian University Awards for its focus on retaining students from low-participation areas. It has also been rated Gold in the Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework – the highest ranking available.
One of the UK’s largest universities, it is also a hub for groundbreaking research. Academic work here has resulted in a prototype for a 3D-printed liver which will help surgeons perform liver surgeries with greater accuracy and deliver improved patient outcomes.
The aim is for surgical students to rehearse their procedures and become familiar with the complexities of the operation prior to the real surgery. Their research is also looking at robotic surgical interfaces, to allow surgeons to become more familiar with using robots to perform surgery remotely.
3. University of Amsterdam
In 2018 spin-off company Kepler Vision Technologies was founded, dedicated to computer vision and AI software. Kepler develops night vision solutions, such as Night Nurse, which uses artificial intelligence to monitor body language in the dark and can alert staff or carers when an elderly person has had a fall.
2. Johns Hopkins University
A number of Johns Hopkins laureates have won Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine.
1. Harvard University
Based in Boston, the private Ivy League institution was first established in 1636, making it almost 400 years old. Its acclaimed Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, brings various Harvard schools together with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create solutions that combine science, medicine, and engineering.
As well as counting notable people like Bill Gates and the Obamas among its alumni, there have been 14 Turing Award laureates who have been Harvard affiliates.