It's been almost a decade, but Daniel R. Alonso, dean of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q), remembers quite clearly what WCMC Dean Antonio M. Gotto Jr. told him in April 1999.

"He told me, 'We have to build a medical school in Qatar.'"

And just as vividly, Alonso remembers his response.

"What is Qatar?"

The anecdote solicited laughter at Alonso's lecture, "Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar: A Pioneering Experiment in Medical Education, Research and Patient Care," at WCMC, Jan. 31.

As the first class of doctors is set to graduate from WCMC-Q in May, Alonso illustrated a vibrant location whose rising enrollment and improving infrastructure, along with a diverse and expert faculty, is on track toward fulfilling its triple mission of education, patient care and research; and all up to the same exacting standards set at WCMC in New York.

"We are trying to do everything compatible to what you do here," Alonso said.

Founded in 2001, WCMC-Q is the first medical school to offer an M.D. program abroad from an American university. It is located in a region of Doha, Qatar, called Education City, a community that houses satellite campuses of five other American universities.

The medical school curriculum established in Qatar comprises two years of premed courses followed by the traditional four years of medical school. There are 203 students from 32 different countries currently matriculating at WCMC-Q. Of the 16 who are to graduate this summer, 14 have been accepted into residency programs in the United States.

"We have an international mix of very high achievers," Alonso said. "They are your typical medical students."

There are 65 full-time faculty members working and living in Doha and 28 more are to be added next year. Almost 70 percent are American; about 26 percent are either European or Canadian. Their ranks are temporarily supplemented by WCMC physicians who make teaching visits. Since 2001, 47 faculty members have accounted for 100 trips to WCMC-Q.

But sometimes the Qatar students need to be able to tap into the same vast resources that are available to the students in New York City. Various technological advances have made such information sharing easier. For example, all of WCMC's glass slides have been scanned into a virtual microscopy system, allowing histology and pathohistology students in Qatar access to the same image bank U.S. students use.

The path for WCMC-Q dictated establishing and grooming the education component of the triple mission first. This year, the research aspect will be added to the formula, with patient care set to follow in 2011.

The WCMC-Q building has ample laboratory space, and while research is already being conducted in gene therapy, embryonic cell biology, vaccine development and neurogenetic studies, Alonso said that within five years, more than 100 people would be engaged in basic, translational and clinical research.

Such progress is made possible by a funding promise from the Qatar Foundation -- a private, nonprofit organization founded by the Emir of Qatar that seeks to advance educational opportunities in the country -- for $28 million a year over the next five years.

Patient care will be achieved through the Sidra Medical and Research Center, a 382-bed facility that will be located less than a quarter-mile from WCMC-Q. Initially, the hospital will focus on treating women and children as the average Qatar family consists of a husband, wife and six or more children.

In the coming years, both Sidra and WCMC-Q will welcome back doctors who have completed their fellowships and residencies. They will return to their alma mater to teach -- and treat -- the next generation, armed with the same skills and advanced understanding of medicine and the human body as doctors trained in the United States.

"Students are students," Alonso said, "whether they are in New York or Doha."

Joshua Hammann is a writer for Weill Cornell Medical College.