IAMP tackles a void in medical education: leadership.

David Holmes's Profile (Oct 22, p 1455)1 quoted Steve Wesselingh, the dean of Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, as stating: “academic institutions have an enormous amount of expertise and knowledge, but rarely are they engaged in the process of health and social policy”. The inaugural Inter Academy Medical Panel (IAMP) Young Physician Leaders (YPL) programme held during the third World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany, attempted to address this deficit.2 IAMP sent out a global call for nominations for physicians aged 40 years or younger with demonstrated leadership skills in medicine or public health, and 22 participants were chosen, representing 18 countries—low-income, middle-income, and high-income—and diverse physician specialties. The inaugural YPL group discussed personal and systemic leadership challenges as well as the necessary substrate for leadership development.3 The programme consisted of an interactive brainstorming session aimed at helping participants to develop a strong leadership style. Mentoring and peer-learning relationships were developed through peer and senior faculty interactions. Participants from developing countries acknowledged challenges of limited resources and infrastructure. For example, one participant had been asked to start a centre with US$30 of funding. Common challenges in the developing and developed world were the difficulty of breaking down silos, and that politics, as well as preference for seniority over talent, can often get in the way of success. Participants from all countries shared difficulties in gaining credibility as young leaders and breaking into established hierarchies. Most important from this experience was the sense that the world is small; that the goals, aspirations, and challenges of our junior faculty remain similar despite vastly different cultures and access to resources. Having pioneered this YPL programme for the young physician leaders, the next issue to address is the programme's future.4 The IAMP executive board members will continue to work as personal mentors for each inaugural YPL member, providing their insight and guidance on future career decisions and linking them to other professional leaders in their fields. The inaugural class of IAMP's YPL leadership programme felt that the workshop was a success and the IAMP asks for its member academies to continue supporting these young leaders as they return to their countries and support an annual programme and development of a growing network of young physician leaders. These efforts will help address the dearth of leadership training programmes for young academicians and nurture them as they learn to shape global health policy for millions in need.