The well-documented shortage of faculty and staff at Africa's medical schools limits the training and development of the next generation of healthcare professionals on the continent. In response, we developed the Accordia Professor in Residence (PIR) program, which is designed to supplement and support existing faculty at Accordia's partner institutes in Africa to strengthen their ability to develop world-class physicians and researchers.

Through the Accordia PIR program, accomplished international physician-scientists spend two to four uninterrupted weeks at selected African universities as supplemental faculty. They lecture, train, and supervise local scholars and clinicians. PIRs spend much of their assignment reviewing the work of research trainees, identifying linkages with other research opportunities, and providing career guidance. PIRs make long-term commitments to the universities to allow valuable international mentorship relationships to develop with the local students and faculty.

The strong impact these well-planned visits have on students, faculty, and staff make the program essential to our achieving Accordia's goal of strengthening academic medical institutions in Africa. The program offers a compelling approach to improving pre-service training of healthcare providers and ultimately developing local healthcare capacity. Since 2003, more than 100 PIR assignments have been completed in Uganda, Nigeria, and Malawi, with many PIRs returning for multiple assignments year after year, strengthening their on-going mentoring relationships. PIR collaborations with local scholars have facilitated nearly 50 publications and 30 abstracts over the last eight years.