Through the Office of Global Health Education, medical students traveled to the Asia‑Pacific region over the summer to engage in rich clinical and community‑based learning experiences, deepening their understanding of health care delivery across diverse cultural and resource settings. Time in the Philippines and Japan offered a blend of hands‑on exposure, observational learning, and meaningful connections with patients and providers.
Cebu City, Philippines
Mary Jae Felizarta spent the month of July in the Philippines at CebuDoc University Hospital. She chose CebuDoc because of family who live in the Philippines, also because she had worked with many of CDU’s physicians on several medical missions during her gap year to help provide medical care to underserved communities throughout the Philippines.
“I met a lot of doctors who they gave me some autonomy, but for the most part, my clinical externship was observational. My favorite experience was scrubbing in on a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, holding the camera and helping scoop the gall bladder into a condom, a cheap alternative to a medical collecting bag.”
Overall, Mary Jae says she got to see a lot of the things she learned about during her MS1 year, such as gastritis and stroke. She also did an ophthalmology rotation which particularly interested her.
“They didn’t have electronic health records in the ER. Everything is written, so it was interesting to see how resourceful people could be and how efficiently they worked under the circumstances.”
Nagoya, Japan
Ruby Nguyen visited Nagoya University in Japan for a program focused on community health where she attended lectures about traditional medicine and how that manifests in patient care in the Japanese healthcare system.
“We got to observe cutting edge technology being used to help train surgeons and medical students. My favorite part was visiting a rural clinic focused on home-based health care that was interdisciplinary, with a well-trained team doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists, see patients at the clinic or in a patient’s home.
A lot of patients have neurodegenerative conditions or conditions that affect their mobility.
“One patient we visited had a spinal injury about 30 years ago. He and his wife invited us into their home. They showed photos with their doctor that have been taken every year to celebrate his birthday, for the last nine years. This was an intimate moment to be able to be invited into their space.”