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Global Medicine Program

Center for Global Health
125 Nashua Street, Suite 722
Boston, MA  02114

Phone: 617-724-1215
Fax: 617-724-1637

Email: MGHGlobalMedicine@partners.org

Explore the Global Medicine Program

    Overview

    Founded in 2011, the Mass General Global Medicine Program 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 seeks to train leaders to respond to the distress of our global neighbors and to advance health equity. The Global Medicine Program is an ACGME-approved three-year residency in internal medicine followed by a one-year clinical fellowship and faculty development program.

    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
    • Understand and apply research design and data
    • Build the capacity of others
    • Lead systems change
    The Global Medicine Program invests in innovative curricula and mutually rewarding partnerships to create service, teaching, and research opportunities where leadership training occurs in concert with health systems strengthening and direct service to underserved populations. The program provides physicians with the expertise and flexibility to cultivate their individualized career path in global health.

    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 Harvard Program in Clinical Effectiveness (PCE) or equivalent academic activities
    • Participation and leadership in the annual Global Medicine Course
    • Five months of fieldwork including at least three months in Uganda as part of the program’s longitudinal institutional partnership
    • 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
    • Scholarly project in global health at the level of a first author or the equivalent

    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 healthcare system into concrete action

    Dr. Ingabire Grace Balinda received her B.S. in Biology from Birmingham-Southern College and her M.D. from the University of Virginia. During medical school, Grace co-founded and led a phone-based student-run insulin titration program for underserved patient 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.

    Resident Rotations, Electives & Activities

    In the Global Medicine Program, trainees will have an opportunity to strengthen their global health skill sets through the following experiences:

    Global Medicine Course

    Available to all interested residents, the four week Global Medicine course seeks to:
    • Expose participants to physician leaders engaging in health equity and social justice through a variety of career paths
    • Explore how social factors and systems contribute to health disparities
    • Examine local and global programs working for health equity 
    • Create a learning environment where participants’ can share their own experiences
    • Encourage active engagement in improving the health of vulnerable populations
    Teaching methods include case studies, lectures, critical reading of literature, faculty panels, interactive team-based problem-solving and integrated community-based experiences. Global Medicine residents participate in the course as interns and lead the course as senior residents.

    Away Electives

    Away electives provide an opportunity to participate in a clinical or research experience while assisting with capacity building and training for our international and domestic partners. Over the course of the four-year program, Global medicine trainees receive approximately ten months of away rotations. They are encouraged to participate in our program’s longstanding institutional partnership with Mbarara University of Science and Technology as well as selecting additional sites based on their individualized career goals.

    Refugee, Immigrant, and Global Health Ambulatory Subspecialty Experience (ASE)

    The two-week Refugee, Immigrant, and Global Health ASE prepares residents for clinical experiences abroad and for working with refugees and immigrants by providing global health skills and education. Through a variety of clinical and didactic experiences, residents are introduced to a wide variety of disease and health issues by leaders in the field, and receive training to serve underserved and vulnerable populations in resource-poor settings as well in Boston. Global Medicine residents may participate in the rotation while fellows will have the opportunity to teach.

    Global Health Didactic Opportunities include:

    • Global Health resident reports, noon conference, and case presentations
    • Global Health Grand Rounds
    • Global Health Journal Club

    Mentorship & Research

    The Global Medicine Program assists residents in identifying scholarly and research mentors and opportunities that best suit their academic interests and career aspirations. Global Medicine residents also receive support for formal research training through the Program in Clinical Effectiveness at Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health or an equivalent academic activity.

    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 residents’ and fellows’ careers, and meeting the needs of our partners.

    Internal Medicine Residency Program

    For more than 75 years, our program has brought experience, commitment and a rigorous and balanced approach to the training.

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