Global Medicine Program

Overview

Founded in 2011, the Global Medicine Program at Massachusetts General Hospital is a joint initiative of the Mass General Department of Medicine and the Mass General Center for Global Health. As a training program in both internal medicine and global health, the program trains leaders to respond to the distress of our global neighbors and to advance health equity.

The Mass General Global Medicine Program seeks to train global health leaders who, across resource settings, are excellent internal medicine clinicians committed to health equity with the ability to:

• Creatively engage the health of patients and communities with an understanding of social and historical context
• Establish and sustain partnerships
• Apply research design and interpret data
• Build the capacity of others
• Lead systems change

Program Structure

The Global Medicine Program is a three-year residency in internal medicine followed by a one-year clinical fellowship and faculty development program. The program provides physicians with the expertise and flexibility to cultivate their individualized career paths in global health. Able to participate in all global health training opportunities offered by the Department of Medicine, Global Medicine trainees uniquely have the opportunity to develop their global health careers through:

Residency Program

• Clinical training in internal medicine focused on health care delivery, policy, implementation and evaluation for underserved populations in Boston and around the globe
• Structured, intentional mentorship and support from a global health community across Mass General, Harvard, Boston and beyond
• Participation in the Program in Clinical Effectiveness at Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health or equivalent academic activities
• Participation and leadership in the annual Global Medicine Course
• Five months of fieldwork including in Uganda as part of the program’s longitudinal institutional partnership
• Integrated, longitudinal leadership development curriculum
• Mentored scholarly project in collaboration with global health faculty

Fellowship & Faculty Development Program

The Global Medicine Fellowship builds on the residency program foundation to provide fellows with the mentorship, curriculum, protected time and clinical experiences to move forward in a global health career. The key components of the one-year program are:

• Over four months of in-depth field experiences in global health
• Intentional, structured mentorship focused on individualized career goals and the skills and relationships necessary to reach those goals
• Care for vulnerable patients and populations across a variety of settings including urban Boston and rural Uganda
• Supported, mentored transition into clinical attending roles
• Pragmatic, career-oriented global health didactics and conferences
• Integrated, longitudinal leadership development curriculum
• Scholarly project in global health at the level of a first author or the equivalent

Application Process

All residency tracks within the Mass General Department of Medicine, applications are processed through the Electronic Residency Application Services (ERAS). Full application details can be found here. All interested applicants should select the MGH Global Medicine Program (NRMP #1261140C1) on their ERAS application.

Trainees & Alumni

The Global Medicine Program is committed to recruiting and developing a diverse group of outstanding trainees with a unified commitment and dedication to health equity.

Spotlight: Ingabire (Grace) Balinda, MD

The program’s vast resources and protected academic time for global health field work, research and coursework have equipped me with the tools to transform my abstract vision to help improve Rwanda’s health care system into concrete action.

Dr. Ingabire Grace Balinda received her BS in biology from Birmingham-Southern College and her MD from the University of Virginia. During medical school, Grace co-founded and led a phone-based student-run insulin titration program for underserved patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes in Charlottesville and surrounding areas, and volunteered at the Charlottesville free clinic. In the future, she hopes to join ongoing efforts to strengthen the health system of her native Rwanda, with a focus on medical education, sustainable community health worker programs and prevention of non-communicable diseases.

• Meet all Global Medicine trainees
• Meet all Global Medicine alumni

Mentorship & Research

Throughout their time in the program, Global Medicine trainees are provided with intentional, multi-tiered mentorship tailored to their individualized global health career interests. The program assists each resident in identifying scholarly and research opportunities that best suit their academic interests and career aspirations within global health.

Partnerships & Training Sites

The Global Medicine Program has developed local and international partnerships and training sites to foster the development of future global health leaders. Opportunities emerging out of these collaborations include clinical, educational, evaluative and research activities geared toward developing our trainees’ careers and meeting our partners’ needs.

• Mass General Global Health
• Mass General's Mongan Institute
• Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Uganda)
• Bugoye Health Center III (Uganda)
• Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
• Indian Health Service & Mass General's Rural Health Leadership Fellowship
• Edendale Hospital (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)
• Consortium for Affordable Medical Technology (CAMTech)
• Mass General Disaster Response
• Partners Center for Expertise in Global and Humanitarian Health
• Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health & Social Medicine
• Harvard Global Institute