School of Medicine

Global Health Pathway

Master
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A medical student at a clinic in Botswana. Botswana is a Baylor International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) site available for Baylor College of Medicine students interested in doing an international pediatric clinical elective
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Botswana Clinic

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A medical student at a clinic in Botswana. Botswana is a Baylor International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative site available for Baylor College of Medicine students interested in doing an international pediatric clinical elective.

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A medical student in the operating room in Malawi. Malawi is a Baylor International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative site available for Baylor College of Medicine students interested in doing an international OB/GYN clinical elective.
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Malawi Operating Room

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A medical student in the OR in Malawi. Malawi is a Baylor International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative site available for Baylor College of Medicine students interested in doing an international OB/GYN clinical elective.

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A medical student at a clinic in Botswana.
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The Global Health Pathway is a four-year program available for Baylor College of Medicine medical students interested in global health.

The pathway consists of courses, clinical training, research opportunities, and electives abroad that are designed to give medical students a broader understanding of medicine in a global context and prepare them for a career in global health. Students who complete the pathway will receive a certificate at graduation.

Graduates of the pathway will also have an opportunity to acquire sufficient class hours, skills, and knowledge level to sit for the examination leading to the Certificate of Knowledge in Clinical Tropical Medicine and Traveler's Health, sponsored by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

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Requirements for Completing the Pathway

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Please see list of competencies that are expected of Global Health pathway graduates.

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Year One - MS1

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1. April/March: Overview of Global Health elective MEOSA- 415A. This is a six-week course meeting twice weekly at noon for one hour. The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of global health topics for the first-year medical student. Such topics as AIDS, mental health issues, ethical problems, human rights, diarrheal diseases, women’s issues, skin diseases of the tropics, humanitarian emergencies, tropical medicine overview, global emergency response to pandemics, and malnutrition and strategies for food fortification are presented by Baylor faculty.

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Year Two - MS2

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1. August through March: Readings in Global Health elective MEOSA- 415B. This is a nine-month course which meets monthly in the evening for two hours. It is designed for the second-year medical student, but is open to all students who have completed the first year of medical school. The course focuses largely on global public health issues and is designed to foster student discussion of these issues, based on current literature. Faculty mentors and students lead discussion on assigned readings, which students complete prior to class sessions.

2. Student assignment to a faculty mentor: Towards the end of the second year, each student in the pathway chooses a faculty mentor with whom the student meets periodically through year four. Mentors help students begin to define global interests, find funding sources for clinical electives abroad, assure completion of pathway requirements, and discuss residency decisions.

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Years Three and Four - MS3 and MS4

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1. One-month clinical elective abroad in a low or middle income country (Global Health Away Elective). The location should be in a resource-limited setting. Students must obtain specific permission from the Dean of Students to do clinical rotations abroad and must provide documentation with the name and location of the host institution, dates, and nature of the clinical work abroad.

Clinical away electives must be arranged through the Registrar's Office and are limited to Baylor-affiliated sites, such as the BIPAI program, or sites that are approved through the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) program of the AAMC.

Funding opportunities are available through the Cain Foundation. Students must schedule this elective experience through the registrar in coordination with the pathway director/coordinator, and in accordance with School of Medicine procedures for away elective scheduling.

2. City-Wide Infectious Disease Conferences: Students are expected to attend four City Wide Infectious Diseases conferences. These seminars are held on Wednesdays at noon in Debakey M112. No advanced registration is required.

3. DTM Coursework. The Diploma in Tropical Medicine (DTM) is conducted in a modular format comprised of four intensive modules. All four modules are offered in the Spring (January to March). Students can take all four modules in sequence, or modules can be taken in different years. Module 3 is a prerequisite to Module 4. See the DTM website for more information on the modules.

The Global Health Pathway offers students two options related to DTM coursework:

Option 1:
Students with a specific interest in Tropical Medicine who wish to qualify and sit for the Certificate of Knowledge Exam of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) must complete all four modules of the DTM program.

Option 2:
Students with an interest in Global Health who are not interested in sitting for the Certificate of Knowledge exam are only required to complete any two of the four DTM modules, in addition to completion of a one-month clinical elective in Infectious Diseases (usually at Ben Taub or Texas Children's Hospital), Refugee and Immigrant Medicine (MEFAM 447), or Immigrant Medicine (MEFAM 512).

Global Health Pathway students will need to register with the NSTM to take the Diploma Tropical Medicine course.

4. Global Health Pathway Reflection: Students submit a two to four page report at the end of their fourth year, reflecting on their experience in global health through medical school, their clinical experiences abroad, including how this has informed their understanding of provision of care within the United States, along with their expectations for future work in global health.

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Extracurricular Activities

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In addition to the above curriculum, extracurricular workshops and lectures will be held periodically by the Global Health Interest Group for students in the pathway and any other interested students.

For more information or to express interest in participating in this pathway, please contact Dr. George Parkerson by phone at (713)-798-7859 or by email at grp@bcm.edu or Colleen Keough by phone at (832)-824-5447 or by email at colleen.keough@bcm.edu.

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Pathway At a Glance