California and the director of the division of community medicine who is a recognized expert
in the epidemiology of cancer in the South Pacific.
They have expressed an interest in further
details of the short and long term goals of the program.
In addition, we have discussed the
possibility of academic affiliations for training in tropical medicine, family practice,
field medicine, preventive medicine and for training of paramedical personnel, i.e., Medex,
nurse-practitioners.
In addition, since the new Marshall Islands Government is in the process
of contracting with a Seventh Day Adventist Health Maintenance Organization, we visited Loma
Linda University, the academic base for this group.
In discussions with the dean of the medical

school and the dean of the school of health, we emphasized our desire to establish « close

cooperative effort in delivering primary care for the Marshallese.
We inquired if Loma Linda
University would be interested in an academic collaboration using faculty and staff on the field
trips.
They indicated interest in this suggestion and will present the concept to University
administration.
In addition, we had a preliminary meeting with Dr. Don Parlia (Professor of

Pathology at UCLA) who is one of the senior consultants in the Marshall Islands Study and was

actually present in the USN evacuation task force in 1954.
He has remained in close association
with the program throughout its 25 years and indicated he would be willing to discuss and additional
cooperative effort between the Department of Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory and UCLA.
With the potential expansion of the program and the concommitant identification of a significant
number of potential thyroid surgical cases, it was felt advisable to begin a preliminary search
for West Coast (So. CA) surgical units.
Our present arrangements use the services of Brookhaven
National Laboratory for medical work ups and evaluation and Case Western Reserve (Cleveland)
for surgery.
Because of severe climatic conditions this seriously limits the number of months
during the year during which we are able to treat the Marshallese.
A warm west coast facility

would give us a great deal more flexibility.

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