FFFP Fellow Jehu E. Iputo Reflects on Instituting South Africa's First PBL Medical Curriculum

Jehu E. Iputo, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D.
Professor of Physiology
Chair, Department of Physiology and Medical Biochemistry
Faculty of Health Sciences
Walter Sisulu University
Umtata, South Africa

In 1991, Jehu E. Iputo, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., of University of Transkei (which later merged with Border Technikon and Eastern Cape Technikon to become Walter Sisulu University) in South Africa, was awarded a fellowship through ECFMG’s Foreign Faculty Fellowship Program in the Basic Medical Sciences (FFFP), a precursor to FAIMER’s International Fellowship in Medical Education (IFME) program. In the 17 years since his fellowship, Jehu has exemplified the impact such programs can have.

As part of his FFFP fellowship, Jehu spent six months at Bowman Gray School of Medicine (later renamed Wake Forest University School of Medicine) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While at Bowman Gray, Jehu worked with Gwendie Camp, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Office of Education Research and Services, and observed the school’s problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. Upon his return to his home institution, Jehu was successful in implementing a problem-based, community-based medical curriculum, the first of its kind in South Africa. Despite challenges that include shortages of human resources and of facilities, the PBL curriculum that he initiated has flourished over the years. Today, the Faculty of Health Sciences at Walter Sisulu University is a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Problem Based/Community Based Learning in Health Sciences, and the Faculty’s PBL initiative “is the leading innovative program in the sub-Saharan Africa,” according to Jehu.

Part of the reason for this success is the University’s commitment to self-evaluation. “Our approach to the PBL/CBE [community-based education] curriculum has been like one big research project,” explains Jehu. “We have continuously monitored the implementation of the program.” Jehu’s FFFP mentor Gwendie Camp has twice traveled to University of Transkei to evaluate the PBL program; one of these trips took place as part of a fellowship through ECFMG’s former Short-Term Exchange Fellowship (STEF) program. Jehu also has reported on the PBL program through several papers published in peer-reviewed journals and in numerous presentations at international meetings.

Today, Jehu is Professor of Physiology, Chair of the Department of Physiology and Medical Biochemistry, and Chair of the Quality Assurance Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Walter Sisulu University, where he has taught for 20 years. Over the years he has also served as Chair of the University’s Curriculum Committee and the Undergraduate Education Committee. Jehu is a member of The Network: Towards Unity for Health and serves on the Editorial Boards of several journals, including the South African Medical Journal. He also has been involved in curriculum reform in South Africa, Ghana, and Uganda.

According to Jehu, the FFFP program has had a significant impact on his career. “The FFFP program helped me grow professionally. I was already a full professor by the time I took the fellowship, but the various positions that I have held at the institution (chair of various committees), nationally (member of the accreditation committee of the Health Professions Council of South Africa), and internationally (a consultant in medical education to WHO and other organizations) was in large part due to the expertise that I acquired during the fellowship,” he states.

Looking forward, Jehu plans to focus on ensuring the sustainability of Walter Sisulu University’s PBL program and spreading this innovative educational approach to other sub-Saharan African institutions. This year, he will be on sabbatical, working with a new institution in Uganda called Busitema University, where he will help the University start a Faculty of Health Sciences. He will also spend time with the University of Development Studies in Tamale, Ghana, where he will assist with a similar program.