ABSTRACT
The medical profession provides an especially important example of both the influential role of foreigners in professional development and the problems that result from the failure of professional training to fit the needs of less-developed societies. The Rockefeller Foundation program at Siriraj Hospital represents the first substantial foreign influence on professional development in Thailand. The Thai, the staff of the Rockefeller Foundation, and the local and expatriate doctors then at work in Bangkok were agreed on the type of medical education best suited to the needs of Thailand. The Rockefeller Foundation program in Thailand was started because the Foundation and members of the Thai royal family shared a common set of social values and interests. Both were concerned with the modernization of medical education and health care in Thailand. The Rockefeller Foundation itself began another assistance program at a second Thai medical school at Ramathibodi Hospital in 1963.
