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Khunying Kobchitt
Limpaphayom
is an Obstetrician and
Gynaecologist whose academic
focus over professional
committment has centered on
issue in reproductive health.
For more than 30 years, she
has been involved in
research and program
implementation for OB-GYN
and safe motherhood, family
planning, cancer prevention
and menopause.
She is currently a Professor
in OB&GYN at Chulalongkorn
University in Bangkok. She
was bestowed to receive the
title of "Khunying" from the
King of Thailand since 1999.
She is also awarded
Professor Emeritus from her
faculty. Apart from medical
teaching, her works also
covered the training for
paramedic personnel. She
initiated the programme for
training nurses to perform
intrauterine device and also
field-tested a humanistic
approach to IUD and Norplant
training using anatomical
models. This research has
now become the “Gold
Standard” for the way family
planning providers are now
trained. Recently Professor
Limpaphayom directed an
innovative, ground breaking
project involving the
prevention and detection of
cervical cancer, the leading
cause of cancer death among
Thai women.
Prof. Limpaphayom has been
the project director of
JHPIEGO's Cervical Cancer
Prevention Program in
Thailand since 2000. JHPIEGO
initiated a multi-site
project in rural Thailand in
2000 to demonstrate the
feasibility of a
single-visit approach (SVA)
to cervical-cancer
prevention. As President of
Royal Thai College of
Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists during the
project's conception, Dr.
Limpaphayom was instrumental
in developing an initial
RTCOG/JHPIEGO collaboration.
She was also pivotal in
gaining the support of the
Ministry of Public Health
and in creating a project
advisory board.
The project was carried out
in four rural districts over
six months with one year
follow-up, and results
demonstrated that a “single
visit approach” using Visual
Inspection with Acetic acid,
linked with cryotherapy
treatment, was safe,
acceptable, feasible and
cost-effective. The results
from this study were
published in the Lancet
journal in March 2003. The
JHPIEGO project has now
expanded to cover more areas
in Thailand, with the
implementation of SVA in
twelve more districts.
Most of her initiative
programme are adopted by the
government and subsequently
became national policy. She
has also contributed to the
area of human resource
development for several
countries since the
Department of OB-GYN,
Chulalongkorn University is
designated as a WHO
collaborating centre for
Human Reproduction, where
she designed and implemented
an innovation menopause
program leading to policy
changes for well-woman care
throughout Thailand.
In addition to her expertise
in the field of OB-GYN,
Professor Limpaphayom has
engaged in several
activities concerning
medical education in both
national and international
levels. In the country level,
she is the pioneer in
setting up the national
standard and curriculum in
OB-GYN for medical students
and residents. She is among
the first group who
initiated the idea of using
provincial hospitals as
clinical training centers.
The project called “Medical
Education for Students in
Rural Area Project (MESRAP)”
which was first developed by
Faculty of Medicine,
Chulalongkorn University has
become a model for the
setting up the Clinical
Medical Education Centre in
several provincial hospitals
nationwide. At present,
Professor Khunying Kobchitt
is the President of South
East Asian Regional
Association for Medical
Education or SEARAME , and
the Executive Council of
World Federal of Medical
Education. |
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