Program Mission
We aim to provide an excellent, well-rounded global health experience and curriculum that will prepare residents to serve as leaders in high-quality, cost-effective local and international community-based medical solutions for defined populations.
Specific Goals
- Provide mentorship and support for residents to attain career goals in caring for the community they choose to serve as family physician.
- Advocacy for underserved communities both domestic and international.
- Improved cultural competency
- Train future leaders in global/domestic health program administration and advocacy, effecting change in health/social policy, and coalition building/funding procurement.
Requirements
- Project/Research
- Presentations of a project to a local, regional, or national meeting
- Attendance at monthly journal meetings and other curricular events
Structure
Residents in the track will be provided two weeks during the first year and four weeks during the second and third year for global health experiences. They will have the opportunity to participate monthly in Global Health meetings that combine the format of journal club articles and global health didactic presentations. A required scholarly project will be based on a patient population in the United States and can include research on healthcare delivery, social topics, tropical disease, or another topic of interest in the realm of global health. The global health track director and specific faculty at each site will mentor residents in the track. All residents have the option of taking electives in global health and the global health didactic sessions are available to all residents, not only those in the track.
Examples of topics
- Earthquake medicine
- Working in disasters
- Community-oriented primary care
- Protozoal infections
- Typhoid
- Helminths
- Bloodborne parasites
- Malnutrition
- Electronic resources in global health
- Blood smears and stool exams
- Low-cost water filters
Current and past projects
- Village COPC project in San Jose, Honduras
- Clinical Elective in Kenya
- COPC project with family medicine residency in Kaita, Japan
- Community Health and Literacy Project in Thomassin, Haiti
- Chispuditos feeding study, Honduras
- MyGlobalHealth interactive electronic learning site, Pittsburgh, PA
- GIS community health survey, Honduras
- Water quality study
- Water filter study
- HIV Incidence and Management in the Philippines
- Dengue education in a destitute section of Manila
- Improving primary services in a Chinese Clinic
An online website has been developed for UPMC Global Health programs in various specialties and for family medicine. This site is open to anyone to use and residents can access presentations and information on global health from many specialties at UMPC.
How to Apply
Positions in the global health track per year will generally be
- UPMC McKeesport up to two positions/year, however, the number varies depending on the applicants
- UPMC Shadyside up to two positions/year
- UPMC St. Margaret up to two positions/year
Applicants who are interested in the Global Health Track should provide a brief (one to two paragraphs) statement of their career goals, the reason for wanting to enter the track, and past experiences to the program director, and global health track director after the NRMP match is finalized.
The Global Health academic committee, which includes the integrated Family Medicine program director and family medicine faculty members from each family medicine residency site within UPMC, will then review applicants and select those who will participate in the track.
Criteria considered in the selection
- Career goals
- Prior experience demonstrating competency in cross-cultural medical care
- The academic performance which demonstrates an ability to handle the demands of the global health track in addition to the family medicine core requirements