The Reporter: February 1997, Vol.8, No.1
Visiting Physicians From the North

Photo by Jonathan Smith A few of the visiting physicians from Norway take one last look at P&S before boarding their tour bus.

An ongoing program sponsored by Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company, is bringing Norwegian primary care physicians to Columbia to learn about U.S. health care reform and new methods for treating seasonal affective disorder, depression, and jet lag in the primary care setting.

The program, which began last November and continues through March, will host up to 500 physicians during 12 visits.

The visitation program grew out of Pfizer's collaboration with Columbia and several other medical institutions in developing the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) system, a guide for primary care physicians in diagnosing depression and other common mental disorders. Dr. Robert Spitzer, P&S professor of psychiatry and one of the developers of PRIME-MD, is the Columbia coordinator for the program. He says the physicians tour Pfizer's research plant and visit Columbia for lectures by several Columbia researchers.