An interview with Todd Durniak, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Smith & Nephew business in Asia and Australia about about the importance of emerging markets in this region and KLEOS’ role in expanding and sustaining educational development in Asia-Pacific.
An interview with Todd Durniak, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Smith & Nephew business in Asia and Australia about the importance of emerging markets in this region and KLEOS’ role in expanding and sustaining educational development in Asia-Pacific.
Could you elaborate on the role medical education has in expanding Smith & Nephew market share in the Asia-Pacific region?
In this region there is a huge need for medical education, especially in the field of arthroplasty. Outside of Australia and Japan the implant market is completely underserved. For example, in China and India the rate of implantation is 10 per 100,000 people, whereas in more established markets we see a rate of 100 per 100,000. Considering the size of the population in these countries, there is a large mismatch between the developed world and emerging markets. To sum it up: Educated customers are our future and this is where we will be placing our focus – if we want to supply implants to the marketplace we also have to supply education to complement this.
When looking at assembling educational offerings for the culturally diverse Asia-Pacific region what must be taken into account?
Cultural differences inform how we may structure a course or meeting. Indian surgeons like to challenge with lots of questions and everyone engages in a give-and-take approach in the classroom. This is different from Japan where a senior surgeon will take the lead and there is less interactivity. In Japan, surgeons generally prefer to meet individually after the meeting for personal discussion. But saying this, physicians and surgeons have a culture of their own which is fairly universal: They care about their patients, they care about technology and using it the right way and they all want the same outcome – this is a unifying theme.
What are some of Smith & Nephew and KLEOS Asia-Pacific’s educational goals for the future?
We plan to have a major multinational meeting each year. This year it was in Australia and focused on hip and knee content, but we plan to rotate it around Asia, depending on where the chairmen come from. Faculty will be wide-ranging as one or two speakers from each country in the region have been invited. We expect to grow each year and one of our biggest initiatives is to invest in China. In fact, we launched the first training centre in Shanghai powered by KLEOS content in June 2009. This represents a large opportunity for Smith & Nephew to have a very strong presence in this country.
What is the role of the KLEOS website?
I see the KLEOS website as the glue that ties it all together. The educational experience cannot end when surgeons go home from a visiting surgeon program or a meeting. Through the education focus of the website we can help so the experience continues and we can also reinforce meeting or course content. The medium allows us to offer information to registered surgeons, lets them look up additional information or even find ways to contact each other. The website holds the whole program together.
Do you think industry will play a more important role for surgeon education in the future?
Industry has a huge responsibility to invest in education and augment the training experience available to surgeons. We can provide a different point of view and approach that can enrich the educational experience. As an implant supplier we have a responsibility to ensure that specific information needed around our products is added to the education mix.
Do you see a collaboration with academic institutions?
We must work with educational institutions and teaching hospitals. Collaboration is part of how we want to do business. We definitely do not want to take over a process, but add specificity and a level of experience not provided in the university environment. We need the faculty and facilities within the region to work with us so everybody may benefit from it.
Where does Smith & Nephew Asia-Pacific want to be in the immediate future?
We expect to tap into the rapid growth of India and China. We aim to be more solidly positioned in major markets like Japan and Australia. And we expect to grow faster and farther than our competition.