Schools with well-developed international programs

biggoron42 said:

I was wondering if you guys could tell me what schools are known for having strong global health programs along with solid international experiences for undergraduates. I'm researching this topic on the schools' websites, but they don't really help that much. Have you guys heard anything in particular?

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cornell send a lot of people abroad at some point or another and UPenn is really excited about a new formal program in international medicine.

The Tulane School of Public Health has a pretty cool program where you get your master's by working through the university and the Peace Corps in two years.

Might make for an awesome way to strengthen an application and have an interesting personal statement.

Hey- I tried to start this thread once, to no avail as well.

It seems like this is a bit of a trendy direction for med schools, but places that have well established programs (this also depends on what you want to be doing internationally), are Harvard, Cornell, Baylor and Michigan. Duke is about to launch something that looks incredibly impressive, and a few others might jump on the bandwagon soon. Many schools have funds earmarked for this, and have excellent linkages to foreign countries, research and clinical programs, volunteer work abroad (Miami!). Some places are better than others for ID, tropical medicine, etc... PM me if you want more specific details on what you want to do, this is what I do for work. And by that I mean, I talk about the work I dont do while posting on SDN...

University of Alabama has two opportunities for studying abroad - you can basically leave for your whole fourth year if you want to. The program is very popular and there are many different countries you can go to. Everything from rural South America to Zurich.

I got the impression that Penn is doing well in this regard.

biggoron42 said:

I was wondering if you guys could tell me what schools are known for having strong global health programs along with solid international experiences for medical students. I'm researching this topic on the schools' websites, but they don't really help that much. Have you guys heard anything in particular?

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Some very good ones mentioned above.

Others to consider:
Case Western Reserve University - they have a HUGE focus on int'l health.
University of Washington - proximity to the Gates Foundation really helps.
I've heard Hopkins is putting some $$$ into become one of the top programs in this area as well.
Creighton also has a very good 4th year clerkship in the Dominican Republic for 7wks - I would highly recommend checking into it as an extramural clerkship regardless of where you go to med school (ILAC).

My med school (Northwestern) has a very popular summer program (NU-AID) for M1-M4yrs for 1-2wks to Latin America, and you're free to do plenty of away clerkships. But I wouldn't consider NU to be in the same category as some of the above programs with respect to global health programs for med students.

Good luck!

biggoron42 said:

I was wondering if you guys could tell me what schools are known for having strong global health programs along with solid international experiences for medical students. I'm researching this topic on the schools' websites, but they don't really help that much. Have you guys heard anything in particular?

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UMich, UPenn, Yale, and Cornell all lend a lot of support to students who want to do international work.

GW seemed to have a good international thing going.

biggoron42 said:

thanks for the suggestions. i had already checked out yale, upenn, cornell, and harvard, but ill definitely check out some of your other suggestions. do you all perhaps have links to these other schools' programs? for example, i cant find anything on CWRU's or Umich's medical school pages. its probably there somewhere, and i just dont know where to look.

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Loyola University Stritch SOM has a great summer program (International Service Immersion) that was definitely emphasized on my interview day. As mentioned on the website, it's a popular program and ~60 students participate each year.
here's the link: http://www.meddean.luc.edu/depts/ministry/isi/index.html

Creighton, as mentioned before, also has opportunities for established int'l electives.

Boston University also has opportunties for int'l electives. There are some established programs (inside electives) but you can also set them up on your own (outside electives) if so desired. the link: http://www.bumc.bu.edu/Dept/Home.aspx?DepartmentID=396

biggoron42 said:

thanks for the suggestions. i had already checked out yale, upenn, cornell, and harvard, but ill definitely check out some of your other suggestions. do you all perhaps have links to these other schools' programs? for example, i cant find anything on CWRU's or Umich's medical school pages. its probably there somewhere, and i just dont know where to look.

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UMich's is the Global REACH program.

Uhh, I can't find Case's info at the moment either...

I believe John Hopkins and Albert Einstein are the only two schools with formal study abroad programs in Japan, fwiw.

dabigv13 said:

I believe John Hopkins and Albert Einstein are the only two schools with formal study abroad programs in Japan, fwiw.

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University of Washington just started a new study abroad program in Japan as well.

As far as residency goes, they offer a formal International Health track in peds, medicine, med-peds, & family med. At least in Peds, they are the only program in the country that does this.

This is important to med students interested in global health because they make an effort to recruit faculty with that int'l focus and great connections (E.g. Karen Olness). So for the med students, there are trips all over the world going on throughout the year that they could participate in with faculty, residents, and classmates.

From what I understand, Case also pretty much gives its students a $2500 "research stipend" b/w M1 & M2, and many students use this to see international health projects and/or do some public health research while there. (A CWRU student could correct me on this if I'm mistaken).

Center for Global Health

IH Track - for peds and med-peds, to get an idea of some of their frequently-visited locations.

More International Health - this one is through Family Medicine

The quality of their international health program was enough to make me overlook the fact that it's in Cleveland and want to go there for residency. Of course, the NRMP didn't have any of that.

Glad to hear you're interested in international health so early!! I had no idea how much I would love it until I whimsically signed up to do 2months in the Caribbean between M3 & M4. Before I know it I'm making plans to focus on IH as a part of my career, spending my upcoming summer off doing volunteer work in Guatemala, and loving every minute of it.

Best of luck!

dajimmers said:

UMich's is the Global REACH program.

Uhh, I can't find Case's info at the moment either...

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University of Hawaii has a lot if you are interested in Asia and the Pacific Basin. Also, I am sure most schools would allow you to do interntational electives during fourth year, you might just have to arrange them yourself.

I agree with the ones above - well, the ones that I know (BU, GW, UW, Tulane), and I would include University of Rochester in this list - they have an awesome opporunity to do a project you design in another country (any country) in between MS1 and MS2 - according to the students, there is a fund set up for this and it's really easy to get the 3000 dollars for your project.

They also have ample 4th year electives abroad.

In addition, I would add that BU, GW, and UR have fairly well-established Int'l programs in place (venues for funding, already done programs, interested faculty, etc.) All of these programs appear to be faculty/administrative driven. UW is getting there - and the Gates foundation money is certainly helping - but it's not as well developed as some of the other schools and it feels like it is a student-driven program.

Mayo doesnt have a formal program but they have a scholarship available to every student that allows you to travel internationally for rotations (and the school pays for everything). People are going/have gone to Africa, South America, India, Australia etc....

University of Minnesota-twin cities has an awesome internation studies program.

http://www.med.umn.edu/imer/


http://www.med.umn.edu/imer/countries/home.html

i was interested in the same thing. sounds like ucsf and ucsd have excellent global health programs. at ucsf you can do a "global health concentration" which is kind of like a major within medical school, and they have a list of international opportunities from clerkships to the summer between 1st and 2nd year.
good luck!

i know university of nebraska is really supportive of people who want to go abroad. i met a student between her 3rd and 4th year who took a year off to travel through latin america: she is living in el salvador now (volunteering at a clinic and actually helping people) and has also traveled through nicaragua, ecuador, and guatemala. she seemed happy with her options and i think most of her year was paid for.

i don't know about you guys, but that sounds pretty sweet to me.

Cornell is the first (only?) medical school in the US to also set up a US med school beyond US borders. It's in Qatar. Pretty neat.

And also, according to wikipedia, around half of the student body does international rotations.