Perdana Uni ties up with another US medical school

PETALING JAYA: Following the exit of its previous American partner last year, Perdana University has announced a new collaboration with another top US-based medical school.

The Perdana University Graduate School of Medicine (Pugsom) will embark on a 10-year collaboration with the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) in medical education and research.

Perdana University chancellor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the collaboration would “bring tremendous opportunities to both institutions”.

“This venture will drive Perdana University towards its goal of achieving international distinction as well as bring it recognition as an elite and successful academic institution,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The collaboration would include staff and student exchanges.

Perdana University’s board of governors chairman Tan Sri Dr Mohan Swami said the partnership would enable the university to become a top-tier academic medical centre.

“There will be future opportunities for collaboration in biomedical research, including bioengineering and technology, as well as for planned new academic teaching facilities, which include a 600-bed hospital,” he said.

The statement also quoted UC San Diego School of Medicine vice-chancellor for health sciences and dean David A. Brenner saying that the partnership would focus on “a forward-thinking medical curriculum, a model for comprehensive patient care and a platform for innovative world-class research in Malaysia and South-East Asia”.

Established in 2011, Perdana University is run by the Academic Medical Centre Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Chase Perdana Sdn Bhd.

Pugsom is one of the two medical schools under Perdana University, with the other being the Perdana University-Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland School of Medicine.

Pugsom was initially set up as a collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for an American style medical degree, but found itself in a quandary when Johns Hopkins pulled out in July last year due to a dispute over payment.

While Johns Hopkins cited frequent late payments and non-payment of services in over a year, Pugsom said it had forked out US$34.199mil (RM123.9mil) up to September last year.

Neither party, however, disclosed the exact sum of the dispute.