Dr. Sanjeev Arora is the founder and executive director of Project ECHO. He is also a distinguished professor of medicine with tenure at the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center.

Previously, he served as executive vice chair and acting chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and president of the medical staff. He also served on the UNM Health Sciences Center board for five years. Dr. Arora has also served as president of the University Physicians Association.

Born in Nangal, India, Dr. Arora was raised in a household of physicians which gave him a strong sense of responsibility to give back to his community from an early age. In 1980, he moved to New York and, later, Boston to study medicine and become a gastroenterologist.

In 2003, he founded Project ECHO to ensure more people had access to best-practice care for hepatitis C. Today, the ECHO model is being used in nearly every country to solve the world’s greatest challenges in health care, education, and journalism, and more.

[00:01] Opening Segment

Dr. Sanjeev Arora shares his journey that started in his home country of India
He talks about the origins of Project ECHO

[07:36] The Four Key Principles of Project ECHO

The four key principles of the ECHO model
What does Sanjeev mean by “democratizing knowledge?”
Child psychiatry is one of the most underserved spaces in healthcare
How can this be solved?

[17:57] How to Scale the ECHO Model

Sanjeev talks about what should be the foundation of offering service
He shares some strategies to scale Project ECHO to other diseases
This is the way that Sanjeev and his team measure the outcomes of the ECHO model

[27:53] The Future of Project ECHO

Sanjeev gives his outlook for the future of the ECHO model
He shares an inspiring thought on the reality about happiness
Disease prevention and healthcare education are only two of their priorities
Here’s why they’re promoting these advocacies

[36:50] Final takeaways

A simple idea can move mountains
What it takes to take healthcare to the next level
The four key components of the ECHO model
Project ECHO has been participated by millions around the world
The strategy used by the Project ECHO
Learning by doing
The benefits of the ECHO model
Love and compassion as embodied in the ECHO model
The American Academy of Pediatrics serves as a learning hub for the ECHO model
The only way people can be happy

Key Quotes:

“If an expert, a specialist in a university, just shares their knowledge with primary care doctors [and] in rural areas, good things will happen.” - Dr. Sanjeev Arora

“The only way a human being can be really happy is by living a life of service.” - Dr. Sanjeev Arora

Email Sanjeev at Sanjeev.Arora@salud.unm.edu and visit https://hsc.unm.edu/echo/ to know more about Project ECHO.

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