Strengthening Ties With Tula

Health-care education is a major part of sister city alliance.

(Albany Medical) Center News, Volume 20, Number 3, April 1997

When the City of Albany initiated humanitarian efforts to help the people of Tula, Russia, in 1991, no one foresaw the depth of the bonds they were building. The scientific, educational and cultural contributions that grew with each year, and the shared sense of accomplishment, connected the sister cities.

Today, after several delegations have visited each other's communities, a newly signed collaborative agreement between Albany Medical College and Tula State University will further expand the relationship. The agreement lays the foundation for a long-term commitment to share medical expertise and information that will help Tula rebuild and modernize its health-care delivery and education. The rebuilding will include further development of the Tula State medical school, and improve research needed to address industrial pollution and problems associated with the radioactive zone surrounding Chernobyl.

"It's very exciting," said Robert Chodos, M.D. chair of the health/medical committee of the Albany-Tula Alliance and professor of medicine and radiology in the Medical College's division of endocrinology and nuclear medicine.

Tula, a city of about 800,000 people, is about three hours from Moscow and 300 miles from Chernobyl. The city and other locations in the former Soviet Union have seen significant increases in the incidence of thyroid cancer, believed to be caused by radioactivity that escaped from the Chernobyl reactor following an explosion on April 26, 1986.

But Tula has lacked access to new medical technologies and the training and hardware needed to evaluate genetic damage related to radiation exposure. Also needed are tools to deal with environmental damage caused by years of careless industrialization.

Albany Medical College will help Tula State develop curriculum and establish it as a medical institution. While Tula State set up a medical program three years ago, it has few teachers, a lack of operating funds and little formal structure. A recent Internet connection will help Henry Pohl, M.D., associate dean of medical education, establish computer capabilities with the Russian college to facilitate distance learning and to create an exchange program, Dr. Chodos said.

"Just a few days ago I learned that the long-awaited Internet connection between Tula and Moscow is now operational," Dr. Chodos said.

The connection enables the Medical Center to communicate with Tula via the Internet for the first time, allowing medical students and doctors there access to information and training programs here. In return, Medical College researchers will be given access to scientific and public health information gathered through continuing investigations in Tula.

In the past several years, Russia's economy has suffered as a result of its transition from communism to democracy. Health care there also has been affected. As of two years ago, less than 1 percent of Russia's budget went to health care. In 1991, Albany established the sister-city relationship with Tula in an effort to supply humanitarian relief and to help the city adjust following collapse of communism. A health maintenance organization was also established in 1992, and now serves 60,000 residents. Two Tula State professors spent three months in Albany last fall. They visited academic colleagues and health professionals at the Medical Center and at other leading research institutions such as the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hudson Valley Community College and the School of Public Health of the University at Albany, State University of New York.

The professors spent time with endocrinologist James Figge, M.D., former associate professor of medicine. Dr. Figge, who serves on the health/medical committee of the alliance, taught the professors techniques for studying DNA from biopsies of Tula residents. Their exposure to radiation appeared to cause thyroid cancer. The Medical College will help Tula State create a center for genetic studies, and help it acquire equipment necessary to create a genetic research laboratory.

Dr. Chodos said the scientists are also seeking help in establishing a public health institute to address environmental problems.

Under the collaboration agreement, the Medical College and Tula State will create the Center of Medical and Information Technology. It will have sites in both cities. The Medical College will continue to provide internships to professors and young scientists from Tula State, and Tula will continue to host visits by Medical College specialists.

— RUTH FEIN WALLENS