Global Opportunities for UC Medical Students

Medical students considering any type of international experience should contact UC International for information on planning their time abroad and to learn about various forms of financial support.

Global Health Electives

There are several electives under which students seeking global or international medical education activities may register:

Family Medicine 060138 - Global Health Care:

This four-week elective is offered for fourth year medical students, as well as other health professional students and residents. The elective combines a field experience in Guatemala with didactics in global health in Cincinnati in April of each year. During the field experience, participants offer field clinics in low resource, underserved villages in rural Guatemala. The course is team-taught and interactive, focused on care of vulnerable populations in domestic and international settings, and utilizes the social determinants of health as a framework. This course can be taken for ICE credit. Interested individuals should contact the elective director Dr. Christine O'Dea: odeacj@ucmail.uc.edu.

Family Medicine 060139 - Global Health Care:

This four-week elective is offered for fourth year medical students, as well as other health professional students and residents. The elective combines a field experience in Tanzania with didactics in global health in Cincinnati. During the field experience, participants offer field clinics in low resource, underserved villages in rural Tanzania through Village Life Outreach Project. The course is team-taught and interactive, focused on care of vulnerable populations in domestic and international settings, and utilizes the social determinants of health as a framework. This course can be taken for ICE credit. Interested individuals should contact the elective director Dr. Christopher Lewis: lewisct@ucmail.uc.edu.

Family Medicine 060140 - Global Health Care:

This four-week elective is offered to fourth year medical students. Students will work one on one with a US board-certified physician at an Indian Health Service (IHS) Site. Students will work in a limited resource setting which provides care to an underserved population from a different culture. This culture has often suffered historical trauma and continues to manifest the consequences of this trauma in their healthcare outcomes. At present there are four sites on the Navajo Reservation which will accept UC College of Medicine medical students: • Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility • Gallup Indian Medical Center • Shiprock – Northern Navajo Medical Center • Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation. Students will do a mix of inpatient and outpatient work based on preferences and future career goals. Students will have direct clinical / patient care time of at least 35-40+ hours per week. This clinical time will all be face to face patient interactions. They will participate in the care of patients as a member of the health care team at the site. This course can be taken for ICE credit. Interested individuals should contact the elective co-directors Dr. Shanna Stryker: strykesa@ucmail.uc.edu and Dr. Andrea Rosado: rosadoam@ucmail.uc.edu.

Medical Education 280179 - Global and International Medical Education:

All fourth year medical students seeking elective credit for global/international health activities must register for this course, except for those registering for FAM 060138, FAM 060139 or FAM 060140. This elective has been created to provide a single point of entry for students interested in global health elective activities and to facilitate and coordinate such activities on behalf of the College of Medicine. This course can be taken for ICE credit if the experience meets the required criteria and is approved by the elective co-directors. Interested individuals should contact the elective co-directors: Dr. Shanna Stryker strykesa@ucmail.uc.edu and Dr. Andrea Rosado: rosadoam@ucmail.uc.edu.

Family Medicine 280131 - Medical Spanish / Latino Health:

The Medical Spanish/Latino Health elective is offered to eligible first year medical students and is a four-year longitudinal experience. Students will receive fourth year elective credit for the coursework, which consists of online Spanish language training during year 1, an intensive medical Spanish course during the summer between years 1 and 2, evening didactic sessions and Spanish conversation groups during year 2, standardized Spanish patient encounters, and service learning opportunities in the local community and abroad. Interested individuals should contact the elective director Dr. Christine O'Dea: odeacj@ucmail.uc.edu.

Students searching for additional international opportunities may consult the working database compiled by the Office of Global Health at International Opportunities for Students in Health Fields or the Public Health Pathways database using the keyword "international".

Several books providing comprehensive descriptions of global health opportunities include:

• Caring for the world: a guidebook to global health opportunities

by Paul Drain, Stephen Huffman, Sara Pirtle, and Kevin Chan (2008)

• Developing global health programming: a guidebook for medical and professional schools

by Jessica Evert, Paul Drain, and Thomas Hall (2013)

• Global health training in graduate medical education: a guidebook>

by Jack Chase and Jessica Evert (2011)

International Collaborations

The College of Medicine participates in several activity agreements that offer student exchanges. For instance, there is an active agreement with the College of Medicine of Ludwig Maximillian University (LMU) in Munich, Germany. LMU is one of the largest and oldest medical research and care institutions in Western Europe.

Medical students from LMU may participate in College of Medicine courses and clerkships, and UC students may study in Munich. There are also medical student research opportunities at LMU for students who do not speak German. Interested individuals should contact Kathy Wedig.

Other exchange programs for medical students, graduate students, faculty, and/or house staff based at the College of Medicine or at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center include Chongqing Medical University (China), University of Lubeck (Germany), Universidad Iberoamericana (Dominican Republic), Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Peru), United Arab Emirates University (UAE), Ben Gurion University (Israel), Tel Aviv University (Israel), and Alfaisal University (Saudi Arabia).

To learn more, email COMGlobalHealth@uc.edu