Global Health Track

Since 1990, our residents have traveled all over the globe to dozens of locations including Alaska, Argentina, Arizona, Belize, Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, Cameroon, Chad, Chile, China, Colorado, Crow Agency in Montana, Ecuador, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Himalayas, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Kentucky, Kenya, Lummi Indian Reservation in Canada, Malawi, Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Trinidad, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Saint Joseph Graduate Medical Education provides residents (family medicine, pharmacy, and podiatry) with the opportunity to pursue their interest in health care for medically underserved populations through our global health track (GHT). This gives residents a chance to serve others within the US and abroad. We seek to foster respect and compassion for the underserved and different cultures.

Our GHT pushes residents to expand clinical, diagnostic, and management skills in environments with limited resources. The experience improves skills in manual and surgical procedures and expands the knowledge of travel medicine and public health. Depending on the site, residents may gain familiarity treating tropical diseases.

Elective Clinical Experience

Since the GHT was established in 1990, residents and faculty have traveled to most of the continents in the world. Domestically, residents have worked at Indian Health Center Sites and inner-city clinics in the continental US and Alaska.

A great deal of flexibility is offered by the program. Residents may use two months of their elective time for global health electives during their three years of residency. This time may be used in a single block or split into two separate blocks and be as short as two weeks or as long two months.

Because SJHS does not maintain a specific relationship with a medical facility inside or outside the US, residents have a wide range of options to develop their own interests. Extensive resources are available to help residents plan their electives. Some residents choose to use their elective time to attend tropical medicine or global health courses.

Curriculum

Residents work with the Global Health Track Coordinator to develop a curriculum of learning activities individualized for the type of experience they decide to pursue.