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 a family physician.
- To become an advocate 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.
Structure
Residents in the track will be provided two weeks during the first year and four weeks during the second and third year of training for global health experiences. The required Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) rotation and scholarly project will be based on a patient population outside of the United States. The director of the Global Health Track will mentor the residents who are in the track. All residents will have the option of taking electives in global health and the global health didactic sessions are available to all. Residents can use their CME funds to pay for the global health seminar series. Global health track residents will be provided up to $1,500.00 per year to defray the costs of the international rotation and airfare.
How to Apply
UPMC Shadyside will have up to two positions available per academic 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 their ability to meet the track requirements by January 31, 2023.
The criteria considered in the selection are as follows:
- Career goals
- Prior experience demonstrating competency in cross-cultural medical care
- Academic performance which demonstrates the ability to handle the demands of the global health track, in addition, to the family medicine core requirements
Following the NRMP Match, the Global Health Academic Committee, which includes the integrated family medicine program director and family medicine faculty members from each residency site within UPMC, will review their applicants’ files and statement of interest and will then select those who will participate in the track.
Core Curriculum
Regular COPC seminar meetings take place every other week for one hour. The global health track residents meet with the global health track faculty and advisors and work together on resident projects collaboratively. Community development/resident project work is the focus of these group meetings.
Global Health Seminars
Monthly seminars with attention given to include content across the eighteen-month curriculum cycle are from the following categories:
- Tropical Medicine and Clinical Skills
- Determinants of Health
- Health Systems
- Human Rights, Ethics, Culture, and Diplomacy
- Policy, Governance, and Actors
- Measuring Health, Burden of Disease, and Program Outcomes
- Environment and Health
All sessions are co-facilitated by an experienced faculty member and a global health track resident.
Core Textbook: William Markle et al., Understanding Global Health. (Lange, 2nd Edition)
In addition, twice-yearly family medicine grand rounds, weekly lectures, and seminars are available at various schools at the University of Pittsburgh. A Monday lecture series and the international medicine course (a four-week elective offered every other year) are coordinated through the general internal medicine department.