School of Medicine launches new office to address student demand for global health
April 1, 2009 -- This month the UNC School of Medicine launched the Office of International Activities. The primary function of this office will be programmatic support for UNC medical students interested in global health and providing guidance to medical student-led global health initiatives formally supported by UNC. The office will also serve visiting international medical students completing rotations at UNC.
The office will be directed by Dr. Martha Carlough, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, and Dr. Douglas Morgan, Associate Professor of Medicine, will serve as co-director. Drs. Carlough and Morgan have extensive global health experience. Among other activities, Dr. Carlough is course director for a family medicine elective in Honduras and is the Safe Motherhood and Newborn Care Clinical Advisor for IntraHealth International, Inc. Dr. Morgan has an active research program in Nicaragua.
The Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases is very excited about this new office and served an advisory role in the early planning stages. For many years an increasing number of medical students have sought international opportunities for both research and service. On average between 35-45 medical students go abroad every year and the number continues to grow, reflecting a nationwide trend.
Although there is strong support for global health at UNC — IGHID, the Office of Global Health in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and the Center for Global Initiatives, among others — no organization on campus specifically serves medical students. Until now, medical students have had to rely on ad hoc methods for getting information and guidance on global health activities. Without an official body, students often haven't known whom to consult for answers to their many questions: What opportunities are available? Will I get academic credit? Who will supervise me? Has the research been approved by the IRB? Is the work environment safe and will this be a good learning opportunity?
“UNC medical students are some of the brightest, most compassionate and passionate people I've met, and their enthusiasm for working globally to improve the health of the world is truly commendable,” said Dr. Carlough. “We want to help them use their time and energy fruitfully.
This new office will introduce more medical students to some of UNC’s nationally competitive global health training opportunities, among them programs sponsored by the NIH Fogarty International Center and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars & Fellows Program (FICRS/F) provides support for health sciences students to spend year conducting supervised research in resource-constrained countries. UNC has Fogarty training sites in China and Malawi.
The Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship Program, which is limited to medical students, also has students working with UNC in China and Malawi. Both programs go through a nationally competitive selection process. To date, four UNC trainees have taken part in these programs: Nancy Hancock (Fogarty) conducted HIV research in South Africa, Adesola Akinkuotu (Doris Duke) is working on HIV in Malawi, Joseph Tucker (Fogarty) studies syphilis in China, and Jonathan Samuel, a surgical resident, has just been awarded a 2009-10 FICRS/F fellowship to develop a surgery trauma registry in Malawi.
One of IGHID's goals is to establish formal, institutional global health programs in each of the health affairs schools, and the School of Medicine's Office of International Activities will help us to meet this goal. The Office of Global Health has provided excellent leadership and service to public health students. The Schools of Nursing, Dentistry and Pharmacy have faculty and students working or interested in global health, and we anticipate each school will establish a similar office or program in the future.
The new Office of International Activities is located in 322A MacNider. For more information, visit http://www.med.unc.edu/oia or contact Brian Moynihan, OIA Program Manager, at 428-3768 or brian_moynihan@med.unc.edu.
