The Professor James C Petrie Scholarship supports a delegate from any country listed as lower to lower middle income by the World Bank[1] to attend the RCPE Course in Acute and General Internal Medicine.

This course is aimed at physicians at consultant and senior trainee level who wish to enhance their acute and general medicine knowledge. It will be of great interest to clinicians from around the world who encounter patients with general medical conditions and gives an ideal opportunity for physicians from other countries to network with others working in acute and general internal medicine.

The scholarship is named in memory of the late Professor James Colquhoun Petrie CBE, a distinguished Physician in Scotland who made significant contributions in the area of General Internal Medicine during his career and also a past President of theCollege.

The scholarship covers

  • Travel costs (economy class travel)
  • Accommodation (in College)
  • Course fee
  • Visa fee (the applicant will be responsible for obtaining the visa).

Eligibility

  • Must be presently based and working within any country listed as lower or lower middle income by the World Bank.[1]
  • Must be self-funding (i.e. funded by yourself or your family). Applicants who are able to get funding from another source (i.e. an employer, industry or government sponsor, charity or third-party organisation) to enable them to attend the course are not self-funding
  • Must be a fully qualified Medical Practitioner
  • Must be able to describe how attendance at this course will benefit the delivery of care to patients within their own clinical service and/or country
  • Must not have previously been the recipient of this scholarship the Brian Chapman Scholarship award

Application and selection process

Applicants will be asked to provide contact details and complete the following short essay questions:

  1. Please describe the pertinent healthcare challenges within acute and general internal medicine in the country you work in (250 words max)
  2. Please describe how attendance at this course will benefit the delivery of care to patients within your own clinical service (250 words max)

Please have your answers prepared before applying online.

Each question will be scored by two assessors. Where the scores are tied, the College reserves the right to make the final decision.

If you have any questions please contact: Kate Hollier; k.hollier@rcpe.ac.uk

Future updates on this course and the scholarship will be made available here as soon as possible. 

2019 winners

Dr Ihsan Jibril

Dr Ihsan Jibril received her basic medical education from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, and she is currently a Senior (Specialist) Registrar in Dermatology/Infectious diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine at National Hospital Abuja, Nigeria. She also has a Master’s degree in International (public) Health from the University of Nottingham. Dr Jibril is particularly passionate about quality healthcare delivery in resource-poor settings with a special emphasis on clinical research, achieving excellence in medical education and clinical audits. Her long-term career interests are international research collaborations, global health and health policy.

“It was very exciting for me when I found out that I won the prestigious Prof James C. Petrie Scholarship. I understood attending the course in Acute and General Medicine was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.

I arrived in the beautiful city of Edinburgh on a bright Sunday afternoon and was warmly welcomed by the lovely Margaret Farquhar. I was lodged in a room with scenic view within the college accommodation, which by the way is just amazing.

The course started off with lectures on approaches to infection which were particularly interesting for me as someone who works in infectious disease. I learned new insights in the diagnosis of sepsis and was reminded of the weighty relevance of antimicrobial stewardship. The lectures on the therapeutic advances in diseases like Diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Heart Failure etc. were quite interesting and fascinating, as most of them are not available in my country at the moment. The groundbreaking lecture by Professor Derek Bell OBE on Healthcare in the 21st century specifically resonated with me, because he emphasised the relevance of data in influencing change and the role that innovation and technology will play in the future of medicine. This is particularly important for Low-Middle Income Countries where these changes are critically needed. The interactive cases were the most relatable for me; patients present the same and in the end medicine is medicine everywhere in the world. Additionally, I especially found it helpful when the experts in the field pointed out clinical pearls and common pitfalls. The inspiring lecture by Professor Sir Andy Haines on climate change and health was eye-opening as this is a subject that we never really discuss where I come from, but nevertheless a crucial conversation that developing countries need to be part of.

At the end of it all, I appreciated the wide variety of topics covered in such a short time. The pacing of the learning through interactive cases also made it easy to understand,

Furthermore, I enjoyed the tour around the city, discovering the rich history of Scotland including “The real Mary King's Close’. The complimentary tour of the college similarly took us back in time to the days of early medicine; I am convinced Edinburgh really is the heart of medicine.

I can say coming to this course has enhanced my knowledge on acute and general medicine, I have made amazing contacts and what I have learned will influence my practice and the practice of my colleagues. I have also taken the opportunity to explore the city of Edinburgh, which I have truly come to love.”

Dr Ashish Shrestha

 

I am from Nepal, a beautiful Himalayan country in South East Asia. I completed my MBBS in 2011 and MD in Internal Medicine in 2016 from Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences. After graduation, I joined as a lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine at Dhulikel Hospital, Kathmandu University Hospital, and have been working there ever since.

It was a great privilege to be one of the recipients of the prestigious Professor James C Petrie Scholarship for the year 2019.  The RCPE Course in Acute and General Internal Medicine has been one of the best learning experiences for me so far. All the topics were very intriguing and the lectures were well presented, interactive and highly informative. I gained new insights in to the management of infectious diseases and antibiotic stewardship, caring for people with multimorbidity, therapeutic advances in various common clinical conditions, challenges  of healthcare in the 21st century to name a few. There was more learning during the informal interaction sessions with all the wonderful participants from various countries. The knowledge I have acquired from the course will definitely have a positive impact on my career, medical teaching and patient care.

I am very grateful to the Royal college of Physicians of Edinburgh for this opportunity and would like to thank everyone involved in the course for such warm welcome, cosy and beautiful College accommodation, College tour and such a well-organized course. The people of Edinburgh were equally nice and welcoming and though it was short stay I will cherish the memories of the beautiful city of Edinburgh for lifetime.

 

[1]  Eligible countries as of April 2021:

Afghanistan, Angola, Algeria, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Cote D'Ivoire, Djibouti, El Salvador, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Arab Republic of Egypt, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea. Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Hondouras, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Sri Lanka, Tajikstan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Republic of Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.