No, not the rock band The Who but the World Health Organization (WHO).

Next week I leave for Istanbul, Turkey to participate in the WHO-PDA Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Management on Wheels Course. I have had the good fortune to be selected as a mentor on this years bus sojourn which will leave from Istanbul, meander through 555km of the beautiful and ancient Turkish countryside to Bursa, Balikesir, Foca, and Gumuldur, and terminate in Izmir on the Aegean coast.

The 2010 award-winning course (see March 08, 2010 post Advanced Degrees: Recognizing Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Excellence) provides key players within the pharmaceutical cold chain  insights into complete cold chain operation and oversight from product manufacture (or arrival in a country) to its administration to the patient.

Each year the course unites a group of 15 selected participants from various national regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, vaccine industry who are involved in the supply, packaging, distribution, logistics and cold chain management, as well as industry members of immunization related equipment and device manufacturers. The "on wheels course" provides for an immersive experience encouraging participants to make direct observations at the storage, warehousing, distribution and health care facilities that they visit as they physically travel with mentors by bus down the length of the cold chain. This approach is designed to show participants how the theoretical background of pharmaceutical cold chain management is applied in a variety of storage and health care facilities - a practical application of experiential learning theory.

Before we begin however, we'll need a few days of course preparation.

As time and technology permit, I intend to post to the Coolerheads Blog during our travels, report on our learnings and observations and share with you highlights of this unique educational experience and on the extraordinary Turkish culture and history that we find along the way.

I hope you will check back to follow our adventures - stay tuned...

Perge, Turkey, March 2010