Introduction
The Office of International Medicine Programs (IMP) collaborates with the GW Office of Student Professional Enrichment to organize the Global Health Scholarly Concentration (GHSC) for GW SMHS medical students. The Global Health Scholarly Concentration is a four-year extracurricular program designed to increase students' awareness about international health systems, global diseases and assessment techniques for the specific health needs of countries at various stages of development.
Application Process
GW SMHS medical students can only apply to the Global Health Scholarly Concentration during their first year. Applications are usually due by the end of October to the SMHS Office of Student Professional Enrichment (OSPE). More application information can be found on the OSPE website.
Scholarly Concentration Objectives
At the completion of this scholarly concentration, students will be able to:
- Describe various regional diseases and issues concerning healthcare and health systems outside of the United States
- Demonstrate an understanding of the social determinants of health, public health, primary care, epidemiology, infectious and tropical diseases in global communities
- Broaden cultural perspective by applying global health or medical knowledge during experiential learning abroad
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Implement inter-cultural sensitivity and effective communication strategies with diverse and vulnerable populations globally
Requirements
- During the first two semesters in the program, Global Health students are expected to attend the educational sessions facilitated by GW faculty and guest speakers with expertise in global health, research, and international medicine.
- Participants of the Global Health Scholarly Concentration will be expected to travel internationally twice over the four-year program.
- An eight-week non-clinical International Summer Experience abroad before second year, and
- A four-week international clinical elective during the fourth year.
- Global Health students are also to complete a fourth-year scholarly project that is related to Global Health in some way. The projects can come in various forms and are by no means limited to:
- Primary IRB-approved research project involving some aspect of global health
- Scholarly literature review regarding a clinical condition, health care delivery system, or health policy issue with GH relevance
- A scholarly case report to include a literature review and a comparison of at least two countries
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Development of a community service project or program related to global health