The Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health at PGIMER, Chandigarh, successfully hosted the fourth edition of its Leadership and Management Training Program for faculty and residents of PGIMER on August 2nd, 2025. This session centered thought-provoking session titled "Influence and Persuasion in Healthcare"

This impactful initiative has been developed under the visionary guidance of Prof. Vivek Lal, Director, PGIMER, and the esteemed mentorship of Prof. Arun K Aggarwal, Head of the Department. The program is led by Prof. Sonu Goel, Program Director of the International Public Health Management Development Program (IPHMDP), who has mentored over 1,500 healthcare professionals from 96 countries.

Prof. Goel emphasized that effective healthcare leadership today is not just about authority but about the ability to influence mindsets and persuade action ethically. “The power to inspire change, whether in patients, peers, or systems, lies in how well we build trust, communicate purposefully, and model the behaviors we wish to see,” he said. For the past eight years, this model has been implemented internationally under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Scheme of the Ministry of External Affairs.

The latest session featured interactive modules facilitated by Prof. Goel and his team. Real-life healthcare scenarios, group activities, and innovative games brought concepts to life in a highly interactive way. Senior faculty members and residents of PGIMER from a wide array of specialties including Paediatrics, Endocrinology, Hepatology, Hospital Administration, Anaesthesia, General Surgery, Otolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery actively participated.

Earlier editions of the series, conducted in November, January, and April brought together 40 faculty members from departments like Internal Medicine, Transfusion Medicine, Otolaryngology, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics and Gynae and Radiotherapy. With innovative elements like gamification, the program takes a dynamic, multi-faceted approach to leadership development.

This session is a continuation of PGIMER’s commitment to nurturing adaptive, empathetic, and impactful healthcare leaders who can drive behavioral change at both individual and system levels.