Through the Global Health Pathway and Course, residents and practicing physicians are thinking globally, learning locally.
During a two-month summer break in 2006, Jen Halverson was immersed in the tropics but never left the Twin Cities. A resident in pediatrics, she was one of 60 participants in the inaugural course in tropical medicine jointly developed by the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We had participants from all over the world,” Halverson says, “which added to the whole classroom experience.” A few of the physicians from Cambodia, Tanzania, Brazil, and other far-flung places not only took the class and but also lectured to their fellow students—residents from medicine and med-peds, graduate students from nursing and the School of Public Health, and practicing American physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants from Minnesota and beyond.
“I had known since medical school that I would want to take this course,” says Halverson, who earned her M.D. at the University of Minnesota, “but I thought I would have to travel.” She had figured she would need about $10,000 for travel costs and lost income to go to Peru for a course once she finished her residency. When she found this local opportunity, she was further relieved to learn that this course does not charge for University of Minnesota residents.
It is one of six courses in the United States and nine in the world certified by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. “I’ve traveled to a lot of countries, including Haiti,” says Halverson. “I want to go back but with a better base of tropical and global health knowledge.” She was particularly impressed by the seven-week course’s content on HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
The Global Health Course, which prepares participants to test for a certificate in Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers’ Health, is a new component in the Department of Medicine’s Global Health Pathway for residents. The goals of the resident Pathway include improving health care to immigrants, refugees and travelers, developing a clinical or academic career in global health, expanding understanding of underrepresented diseases, increasing competence of care in a multicultural society, and inspiring residents to pursue a career in underserved communities.
The Global Health Pathway also helps the Department of Medicine continue to build local, national, and international collaborations. Internal medicine and med-peds residents are all encouraged to spend 1 to 2 months internationally during their residency, even if they are not interested in a career in infectious diseases. Experiencing subspecialty rotations such as gastroenterology in Thailand or cardiology in India can greatly expand residents’ clinical expertise. The Department of Medicine has affiliation agreements in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Arusha, Tanzania, Bangalore and Mangalore, India, and Kampala, Uganda.
The Global Health Pathway allows residents with a particular interest in global health to link with a faculty mentor, complete a project, and have preferential placement at continuity clinic sites with large immigrant patient populations. One of the local sites is the Center for International Health at Regions Hospital in St Paul, Minnesota, which was established in 1980 and serves refugee and immigrant patients from more than 30 countries. Its director is Dr. Pat Walker, who is associate medical director of the Global Health Pathway and co-director of the course. She received her Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Her primary interests are in clinical care, education, and health system change to improve outcomes for refugee and immigrants to America. Her medical textbook, the first of its kind in the field of refugee and immigrant health, is called Immigrant Medicine. It is co-edited by Dr Elizabeth Barnett from Boston and will be published in May 2007.
The Global Health Course Co-Director Bill Stauffer, a physician with a masters degree in public health, holds a Diploma of Tropical Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Public Health. He has a part-time appointment at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Division of Migration and Quarantine, and is directing projects to improve the care of refugees after arrival. He works in the Travel Medicine Program at HealthPartners and is the primary convener of the Twin Cities Tropical and Travel Medicine Seminar, an evening seminar series.
Registration is open for the 2007 Global Health Course. For more information, go to www.medres.umn.edu or contact program coordinator Holly Heisler at heis0009@umn.edu or 612-625-3268.