Education, Mentorship and Research

In 2019 a strategic partnership was formed between the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University (QU Netter), Trinity Health of New England (THONE), the University of Oxford’s Neuroscience Division and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s institutions to advance and integrate the delivery of comprehensive clinical care, research and education.

The strategic partnership has created a strong foundation for collaboration in research and education, including a neurology education exchange between QU Netter and the University of Oxford. QU Netter medical students participate in a six-week program consisting of two weeks of intensive seminars at the University of Oxford and four weeks of clinical neurology at the prestigious John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford — a large teaching institution and leading center for the University of Oxford’s clinical research. Exchange students from the University of Oxford’s School of Medicine spend three weeks in a clinical rotation at THONE’s Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital in Hartford and QU Netter. Mentorship and experiential learning are thus a cornerstone of this partnership’s success.

Dr. Mary Bailey, THONE’s Regional Medical Director for Rehabilitation and Multiple Sclerosis, leads QU Netter’s Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine and serves as chair of Rehabilitation Medicine at QU Netter. She is responsible for QU Netter and THONE’s efforts in neurology research and student exchange with the University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Focal areas for research conducted by a research team that comprises both Oxford and QU Netter scientists include neurodegenerative diseases and, in particular, multiple sclerosis.

This research has been published in highly regarded peer-reviewed journals such as Annals of Neurology, Brain, and the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.