Global Health is a field of study which addresses the health of people and populations in a global context. It involves mutual teaching, research and healthcare provision that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity worldwide. It examines the social determinants of health, addressing disparities including infectious and non-communicable disease issues, human rights as well as economic development, and policy and system issues.
Medical students at the Carver College of Medicine have multiple ways to get involved with our Global Health Programs: two on-campus courses each semester, special speaker opportunities, community-based electives and clerkships, faculty/alumni led sustained medical missions, student organizations (Global Medicine Society and Student Physicians for Human Rights), campus wide, national and international conference involvement, academic exchanges, joint degrees, internships and fellowships, medical Spanish program, and Global Health Distinction Track.
Our global programs involvement has stretched us from our home city across the world. A sample of our activities from 2015-16 include:
- our summer 2015 global health books discussion group for all medical students
- our August 2015 global development debate hosted by the Global Medicine Society
- our new Global Health Journal Club in addition to our Global Medicine Society and Student Physicians for Human Rights organizations
- special speakers have included
- Dr. Paul Farmer on Partners in Health and Harvard University on Global Health and Human Rights
- Dr. John Lawrence (Vice President on the Board of Directors for MSF-USA) on MSF recent endeavors
- Dr. Selma Jeronimo (Director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Rio Grande do Norte, and Professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal, Brazil) on Zika
- student-driven assistance projects for children in Mozambique and Syrian refugees
- 6 pending MD graduates with Global Health Distinction in the class of 2016 with work ranging from surgical priorities in low income nations, challenges in chronic disease management, global cervical cancer rates and intervention, and barriers in access to care
- 24 rising second year medical students pursed global health community based work during the summer of 2015 in sites as diverse as the US, Jamaica, Guatemala, Ecuador, Brazil, Gambia, Ghana, Niger, Tanzania, Vietnam, Palestine and Egypt as well as 24 final-year students in the communities above plus England, Romania, Sweden, Mexico, Honduras, India, Nepal, Timor-Leste, and Papua New Guinea
- attendance and presentations at local, regional, national, and international conferences
- new scholarship partners for medical students pursuing global health projects
- and more!
For more details on our work, read our Director's new blog at http://medcom.uiowa.edu/globalprograms/.
To explore how you can be involved, contact the Carver College of Medicine Global Health Programs office.