Education
In order to improve health care in Latvia, LMF considered it important to complement the knowledge of Latvian doctors. The fund do this with travel scholarships to provide young doctors with opportunities to study abroad and bring new knowledge back to Latvia. The first fellows were orthopedic surgeon Valdis Zatlers and vascular surgeon Dainis Krievins. Scholarships became the main activity of LMF in 2002, when LMF founded a Zarins-Knight study travel scholarship program. From 1992 to 2020 LMF has awarded 64 scholarships, totaling more than $320 000 (each scholarship — about $6,000).
Study travel scholarship programs
Currently, LMF travel grants are divided into four categories:
- Zarins Medical Studies Travel Scholarship for Residents and Young Doctors – for Latvian residents and young doctors for professional development to learn new, unapplied or minor methods of applying medical treatment;
- Zarins Medical Studies Travel Scholarship for Latvian Students – for Latvian medical students to supplement their knowledge in foreign universities and scientific laboratories;
- LMF Travel Scholarship Program – for Western Latvian youth, to spend the summer in Latvia at one of the major hospitals.
- Regional hospitals and university clinics – “academic development and excellence”, so that their leaders can learn new, advanced methods of the organization of medicine and work.
