Student are fanning out across the globe to learn about the practice of medicine in a variety of countries, including Vietnam, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Dominican Republic, and Russia, via the UVM College of Medicine Western Connecticut Health Network Global Health Program. They’re coming back with a new perspective on global health care issues, and a more nuanced understanding of their purpose as physicians. Not only do they gain a deeper understanding of medicine across cultures, they give back to hospitals, clinics, health care professionals, and families along the way.

“For the last three years, our original focus on enhancement of patient care through improvement of medical education has become highly successful, with the establishment of numerous comprehensive exchange programs around the world,” says Majid Sadigh, M.D., UVM associate professor of medicine and director of the UVM WCHN Global Health Program.

In 2015-16, the program sent 24 students to five partner sites. A sixth clinical site is under development in China. Rising second-year students have the opportunity for an elective the summer after their first year, with a focus on research and clinical observation. Electives during the fourth year focus more specifically on a specialty of interest. Each global health rotation also includes sociocultural immersion and language instruction.

U.S.-based faculty mentors accompany medical students and residents for one to two weeks of their elective. Their participation creates continuity and the medical supervision needed to enrich the student and resident experience. Sending faculty also helps to provide a key element in the global health partnerships at the sites: capacity building and education. Each faculty member who travels with the global health program teaches classes to the local doctors, nurses and other clinical staff at partner sites, as well as in the community at locations like the Dominican Republic with a strong focus on community health.

Another key component of the UVM/WCHN Global Health Program is bi-lateral exchange: Not only do U.S. students, residents and faculty spend time overseas, health professionals from the partner sites come to the United States as Scholars in Global Health at Danbury Hospital, learning about the U.S. health care system and training.

The program is gaining recognition at the national level. Since being accepted into the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH), a worldwide organization of 130 academic institutions and other groups working to address global health challenges, students and faculty have had a strong presence at the annual conference. At the 2016 meeting in San Francisco, students and faculty presented four posters, and five were presented the year before at the annual meeting in Boston.

As College of Medicine students continue to complete electives at the different affiliate sites, they bring home a new appreciation for the complexity of their work, and a broader understanding of the role physicians and other professionals can play in fostering a truly global health care community.

For more information, visit the Global Health Program website, Global Health Blog, and the Global Health at WCHN Facebook page.