Internal Medicine Residency Program

Global Health and Equity Pathway

Description

Global health has become an inextricable component of clinical practice, health equity, and scholarly endeavors. Demand is increasing for health professionals who can function competently in a global marketplace, who have research or service interests in health problems of developing countries, or who wish to address global manpower inequities through training or service. The Vanderbilt Internal Medicine Global Health Equity Pathway gives Internal Medicine residents formalized access to global health expertise and resources of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, coordinated through the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health


Global Health and Equity Pathway 

IM-residencyResidents identify interest in global health either before arriving at Vanderbilt or during their internship year, by communicating with the Residency Program Director, Associate Program Directors of the Global Health Pathway, Drs. Merranda Holmes and Zeynep Kubilay, and/or Dr. C. William (“Bill”) Wester (Associate Director for Faculty Development in Global Health).  VIGH Internal Medicine faculty mentors then assist the Global Health Pathway residents to organize their elective blocks to acquire foundational knowledge in global health and to obtain experience providing clinical care or research in resource-constrained settings. Pathway residents complete their training within the usual 3-year residency duration. 

 


Pathway Highlights

  • Multimodal Global Health Educational Training
    • Interdisciplinary Global Health Program (VCGHE) Course, engaging residents of every subspecialty
      • Intro to Global Health and Global Burden of Disease
      • Global Ethics
      • Globalization of Healthcare
      • Capacity building and strengthening
      • Sociocultural and political awareness
    • Modules in Core Internal medicine Topics in Global Health
      • Communicable and non-communicable diseases
      • Ethics and Health Equity
    • Center of Experiential Learning Simulation Cases
      • Clinical reasoning without resources in practice
    • Interactive case discussions with global medical professionals
    • Journal Clubs
    • Global health leadership and interest group meetings
  • International and/or Domestic Clinical Rotations in resource- constrained settings
    • Up to 4 weeks per residency
  • Optional research project

Clinical Sites

Africa (English language is sufficient except as noted)

  • University of Zambia Teaching Hospital (UTH), Lusaka, Zambia
  • Friends in Global Health (FGH), Maputo and Quelimane, Mozambique (requires Portuguese language proficiency)
  • University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • Kijabe Hospital, Kijabe, Kenya
  • Chogoria Hospital, Chogoria, Kenya

Latin America (English language is sufficient except as noted)

  • University of Guyana Hospital, Georgetown, Guyana
  • Re-establishing sites Latin America, post-pandemic - potential with Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

Domestic sites


Faculty Mentors

  • C. William “Bill” Wester (william.wester@vumc.org) Implementation Science / HIV complications (i.e., kidney disease) and Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) / Observational Data Analysis
  • Merranda Holmes (merranda.d.holmes@vumc.org) Clinical Hospital Medicine for Adults and Children/ Non-communicable Diseases / Vulnerable Populations ( global and domestic) / Health Equity
  • Zeynep Kubilay (zeynep.kubilay@vumc.org)  Clinical Hospital Medicine for Adults / Health Equity / Vulnerable Populations (global and domestic) / Curriculum Development
  • Douglas C. Heimburger (douglas.heimburger@vumc.org) Clinical Nutrition / HIV / Education and Training
  • Jose A. Tique (jose.tique@fgh.org.mz)  HIV Implementation Science / Quality Improvement, Health Information Systems *(HIS)
  • Muktar H. Aliyu (muktar.aliyu@vumc.org) Prevention of Maternal to Child HIV Transmission/ Implementation Science / ART Scale-Up
  • Kate Clouse (kate.clouse@vumc.org)   Prevention of Maternal to Child HIV Transmission/ Implementation Science
  • Carolyn M. Audet (carolyn.audet@vumc.org)   Population and community health / HIV continuum of care
  • John R. Koethe (john.r.koethe@vumc.org) HIV Nutrition (undernutrition & obesity) / Immune Activation / Inflammation
  • Timothy R. Sterling (timothy.sterling@vumc.org) TB / HIV-TB co-infection
  • Martin C. Were (martin.c.were@vumc.org) Global Health Informatics
  • Michael C. Dewan (michael.dewan@vumc.org)  Pediatric Neurosurgery / Neuro-oncology
  • J. Matthew Kynes (j.matt.kynes@vumc.org) Pediatric anesthesiology / Pain management
  • Edwin Trevathan (edwin.trevathan@vumc.org)  Pediatric Epilepsy / Neurologic Disorders / Maternal and Child Health, Epidemiology, Health Policy
  • Marie H. Martin (marie.h.martin@vumc.org)  Education and Training / Program evaluation / Health Policy
  • Jule J. West (jule.west@vumc.org) Healthcare for Vulnerable Populations