Global Health
Engaging in global health experiences not only cultivates a profound understanding of international health issues but also exposes students to diverse cultures, languages, and alternative healthcare systems.
OUWB has developed a robust global initiative, uniting curriculum, co-curricular activities, and community involvement. Our goal is to foster diverse opportunities, spark interest, and promote active engagement in global health at all levels: local, national, and international. OUWB is fully committed to offering students who are interested in these experiences an educationally enriching opportunity within a secure and well-structured environment.
Public Health in Ghana
OUWB M1 students are invited to join the OU Office of International Education on their annual one-month public health trip to Ghana. The program will take place in June 2025.
Travel to Ghana for a three-week, hands-on, community-driven experience covering social issues affecting women and children. You will collaborate with the Center for Learning and Childhood Development, a research-based, non-profit organization in Accra, Ghana. Engage with caregivers to understand the living experiences of families in a low-middle income country while visiting historical and cultural sites to understand how colonialism, slavery, environmental conditions, and socio-economic factors influence health and development.
OUWB will finance $4000 of the total program cost for up to four (4) students each year. An informational Lunch and Learn will be held in September 2024 (date TBA) and the application process will go live November 2024.
The Holocaust and Medicine
OUWB offers a transformative learning opportunity through Dr. Jason Wasserman and the Center for Moral Values in Health and Medicine. to its medical students through the OUWB Holocaust and Medicine program. This program is offered
Part of the program -- the OUWB Study Trip to Auschwitz -- is designed to prompt students to delve into this distinctive and tragic era in the history of medicine and critically reflect on its implications for one’s own personal and professional development within the medical profession.
For more information on this program, please contact Dr. Jason Wasserman at [email protected].
Child Family Health International (CFHI)*
OUWB endorses the Child Family Health International program (CFHI). This established NGO offers over 30 programs in ten countries that connect students with local health professionals and community leaders transforming perspectives about self, global health, and healing.*
This is not a resource for M4 students. M4 students access CFHI away electives through the VSLO program.
*Oakland University provides this information regarding global experiences through CFHI as a service to students interested in learning more about such programs. The information regarding the CFHI program(s) is created and maintained solely by other public and private organizations. The University does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Oakland University has no relationship or agreement with the any of the programs described here, nor does it have any supervisory or administrative role in any of these programs. The University in no way represents or acts as agent for any of the programs.
Users of this CFHI information assume all responsibility to investigate and to become informed of all aspects of the programs, and the University assumes no liability for any loss, damage, illness, or personal injury, including pain, suffering, and death, that may be sustained by anyone in the course of participating in any program described here.
OUWB - Hadassah University Medical School Exchange Program
Currently on hold
M4 students can take one of their M4 electives with OUWB's partner institution, Hadassah. Students will work with the Global Health Directors and administration at Hadassah to solidify specialty, rotation dates, and lodging and travel resources. An official email will go out to all students when the Hadassah elective is once again available.
University of California San Diego (UCSD) Border Health Elective
Students will work with physicians, mid-level providers and residents to provide health screenings and evaluations for asylum seekers, from all over the world, who arrive in San Diego CA. Care is provided at the two hotels ( run by humanitarian organizations ) where asylum seekers are provided temporary housing until processing is complete, before they depart for their sponsorship site. Students will generally work 8 am to 4 pm 5 days per week and see adults with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, newborns and those with acute injuries and health care needs.
VSLO/Child Family Health International
Students can utilize the same VSLO system for domestic to identify and participate in an International Away Elective (IAE). Students will need to apply both with the Global Health Directors / Registrar and CFHI (through VSLO). Each year updated instructions and timelines are sent to all students.
Please see the funding section for information on Ravitz funds (for Hadassah) and Border Health/International Away Elective stipends. Updated timelines, processes, and applications for all M4 IAEs are provided via email.
International Away Elective Stipends
Each year, students participating in an IAE (either the Border Health Elective or through VSLO/CFHI) are eligible for a stipend to supplement the costs associated with their elective. The amount of funding available varies from year to year. The total number of stipends and the amount of stipends will be emailed to students with the application and timeline each year.
Ravitz Foundation Funds
Funding for a limited number of students who choose to study at Hadassah Medical Center is made possible through a generous gift from the Ravitz Foundation to assist with the expense of the trip.
Public Health in Ghana
OUWB will cover $4000 of the program cost for up to four (4) students. The application for the program provides further information on this funding and how the students are selected.
CFHI Scholarships
CFHI offers a variety of scholarships for medical students participating in either pre-clinical opportunities or M4 electives. For more information, please visit their website.
This section is adapted from the AAMC Guide developed by Elizabeth Barreras Rivest. This modification of Ms. Barreras Rivest’s document is specific for OUWB students and our Global Health Initiative.
General Questions
- What do I hope to accomplish through this global experience? Is this realistic?
- What added value do I bring to the experience and the community where I will be working?
- What impact can I have on the community/institution at this point in my medical education?
- How much time can I spend on a global experience?
- Is this the best time for me to go global? Will I have greater impact at a later time in my education and medical career?
Finances
- How much will this experience cost?
- Can OUWB support any or all of this experience?
- Are there scholarship opportunities to support this experience?
- Am I permitted to start a Go Fund Me effort for this experience?
- Will any financial support for this experience be deducted from my tuition and housing scholarships and loans?
Process
- What program is best for me at this point in my education as a physician?
- Can I be part of an existing program or research project through OUWB?
- Do I have language competency for the host country? Are interpreters provided and available daily?
- Does the host institution/organization provide a medical director and a mentor/supervisor for students?
- What are medical students permitted to do (without a medical license) in the host country?
- Does the host country require a special visa for medical student volunteers? Exchange students?
Statement on Use of Photography During Global Experiences/Activities
HIPPA and compliance to the HIPPA law is distinct to the United States. Although host institutions, organizations and community clinics do not or may not have confidentiality rules, when engaged in global activities, all OUWB students, faculty and staff remain professionally obligated to continue to abide by the:
- Beaumont HIPPA Compliance Policy
- Confidentiality and Computer Usage Policy
- OUWB Code of Professional Conduct for Global Experiences & Guidance on Ethical Behavior for Global Experiences
In addition, engaging in photography of patients without explicit consent is a privacy violation. Photographing patients and displaying their images for personal or professional purposes is strictly guided by confidentiality policies. OUWB expects all students, faculty and staff who are globally engaged to respect patient privacy in photography by complying with the guidance that:
The individual taking photos or videos is required to obtain verbal consent for images in any setting ether clinical or non clinical. Additionally, photos or videos taken in a clinical setting require that the patient is de identified (i.e. blacking out the eyes, blurring the face, etc.)
(adapted from the AAFP statement on Confidentiality of International Health Information)
For two weeks in August 2015, Dr. Mammo, advanced his Medical knowledge in the department of Ophthalmology at Emek Medical Center. He gained new clinical skills, met a fascinating array of physicians and residents and enjoyed a social experience that he will hopefully never forget. Dr. Mammo will coauthor two articles with his faculty mentor at Emek. He then spent two weeks at Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem under the direct supervision of the renowned. |
Dr. Al-Hadidi spent April 2016, a senior elective month, in pediatric oncology at Hadassah Hospital (Hadassah Hebrew University) Jerusalem, Israel. During this experience, he saw complex cases he only had read about in textbooks and observed new therapies in pediatric oncology. |
In 2018, OUWB alumni Joseph Tran, M.D., and Austen Knapp, M.D., spend a month at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. |
Inaya Hajj Hussein, Ph.D. Dr. Inaya Hajj Hussein is an associate professor and one of the global health directors in the Department of Foundational Medical Studies. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, an M.S. in Microbiology and Immunology, and a B.S. in Medical Laboratory Sciences from the Faculty of Medicine at the American University of Beirut. With over a decade of experience, Dr. Hajj Hussein has been actively involved in various field studies focusing on HIV/AIDS, HPV, and sexually transmitted infections. Her expertise in global health has led to numerous publications in this field. She has particularly dedicated her work to special groups, including the development of Training of Trainer (TOT) programs for the UN Interim Force in south Lebanon (UNIFIL) on HIV and STDs prevention. Moreover, she has developed and implemented health programs for immigrants from Iraq and Syria, collaborating with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to empower women on health issues. Dr. Hajj Hussein's passion for global health extends to mentoring students and guiding them in their research and global health endeavors. She remains committed to supporting students in their pursuit of valuable experiences in research and global health. |
Allison Ball, MD Allison Ball, M.D., a pediatrician, is one of the global health directors at OUWB who provides mentorship to medical students and helps craft opportunities to augment learning about health care both globally and locally and the disparities vulnerable populations and communities face. Dr. Ball has held this position since 2017 and is delighted about expanding options available to learners now that the Covid-19 pandemic is waning. Dr. Ball's professional background includes teaching residents and medical students in academic pediatrics for over seventeen years. In 2005, she began her career in Detroit as a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, where she became division chief of Pediatric Hospital Medicine. Dr. Ball held a visiting professorship through Dartmouth University and a long-term placement at the University of Rwanda where she provided clinical care for hospitalized neonates and children and helped build the health education infrastructure through the Human Resources for Health program. Her academic interests include child maltreatment and advocacy, global health, and health equity. Dr. Ball is an alumna of Kalamazoo College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1998. She then matriculated at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and obtained her medical degree in 2002. She pursued pediatric residency at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, at Northwestern University. While on the faculty of Wayne State University, Dr. Ball completed course work in public health, anthropology and law and received a global health certificate. In 2013, Dr. Ball achieved a diploma of tropical medicine and hygiene (DTM&H) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine after studying in Tanzania and Uganda. Dr. Ball holds board certification in both general pediatrics and pediatric hospital medicine. |
Srikala Yedavally, DO, FAAFP, MEd Srikala Yedavally DO, is a family physician, clerkship director, and one of the global health
For general inquiries on global health at OUWB, please email [email protected] |
