As the world gets more globally focused and connected, more medical schools are incorporating courses to help medical students learn about and address global health issues. This trend is also, in part, due to increased interest in global health amongst medical students. Many medical school applicants and eventual medical students are interested in service learning during their medical education; as a result, more opportunities to engage in global health have emerged.
The approach in courses that teach med students about global health issues should be multifold according to experts such as Dr. Joel Shalowitz of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern, cited in this recent article in US News and World Report about the preponderance of global health courses in medical school.
Duke’s Global Health Institute offers an array of courses to educate students. The University of Colorado offers a Global Health Track. Tufts also offers programs in global health, as does the famed program in Global Health & Social Medicine at Harvard. In fact, most medical schools offer some sort of education in global health issues. Some other examples include Columbia and the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn.
–Liza Thompson, Medical School Admissions Consulting