Global Experiences Available to MD Students at HMS
Opportunities
Opportunities for medical students to engage with global communities are plentiful. Students have a range of options for short-term service, longer-term engagement, clinical training and scholarly work.
Students can…
- Undertake a summer project, scholarly project, research, or study abroad
- Participate in a clinical exchange clerkship abroad
- Take an international independent study course
Funding
Students can request funding for global health experiences.
More Info about Global Health Opportunities
First Year Summer Project Engagement
Students may complete an 8-week project in global health or with Indigenous peoples within the territorial US during Year I summer break. To apply for OSE funding, visit Funding for MD Student Projects. Students are required to complete the OSE decoloniality seminar series before departure (series dates TBA).
Scholarly Projects
Students may complete a global health project to meet the scholarly project degree requirement. Global health projects may take place abroad or in the US. The Faculty Advisory Committee on Global Health is available to advise students on potential opportunities. Students may apply for travel funding from the OSE, Harvard University, or from external funding sources (refer to the News You Can Use email newsletter or search online).
Research or Study in Post-PCE Years
Students may take a year off to pursue research, study (eg a master’s degree program) or a scholarly project abroad. The Fulbright US Program fellowship or the Harvard Kennedy, Knox, and Sheldon Traveling Fellowships are great options for these experiences. The Fulbright is also available to medical residents who do not have a PhD as long as the project does not involve clinical care. Students seeking support to carry out their scholarly project can view the available International and US travel supplements from the OSE which are based on the length of the project. Students are also encouraged to search for external funding from professional societies or other foundations to support their travel.
Clinical Rotations Abroad
The OSE maintains clinical rotation exchange relationships with several medical schools and health care programs around the world. HMS students participating in the exchange program can request OSE funding to defray some travel and immunization expenses. Students can earn elective credit through either the HMS course ME518M.41 (for Latin American sites) or SOC900.41 International Independent Study (for all other sites). Visit HMS-Sponsored Clinical Electives Abroad for detailed application instructions (HarvardKey required).
Obtain Credit with Independent Study
SOC900.41 International independent study course requires an application, proposal, trainings, and various approvals due several months prior to starting the experience. Contact Kari Hannibal for additional travel safety forms and further details.
Additional Learning Opportunities
- The Paul Farmer Collaborative and the University of Global Health Equity offer a three-week course in July in Rwanda for medical students to learn about community collaboration in health care.
- The HMS MMSc in Global Health Delivery offers students both classes and a field-based research project in global health. Some global health courses may be open to MD students without enrolling in the Master’s degree.
- HMS offers several global health-centered courses available by searching the course catalog in my.harvard. Examples:
- SM519 Foundations of Global Mental Health
- SM520 Clinical Topics in Global Health
Plan Your Experience
The Office of Scholarly Engagement (OSE) is here to help you identify and plan a global experience that is impactful to you and to our global community. Reach out to the advisors to get started!
Advisors
Jennifer Kasper, MD, MPH, Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee on Global Health
Dr. Kasper would like to meet with any HMS medical student planning global health engagements. She serves as a mentor and can refer you to additional global health advisors as needed. Students should contact Kari Hannibal to set up a meeting with Dr. Kasper.
Kari Hannibal, OSE Assistant Director
Kari is the staff point-of-contact for HMS students who travel abroad. She can refer you to global health faculty and advisors, funding sources, available opportunities, and help you draft a schedule to pursue a project abroad.
Find a Global Health Project & Mentor
- OSE Database of Scholarly Project Opportunities: HMS faculty have submitted hundreds of opportunities for scholarly projects, summer research, summer global health engagements, or year-long projects. Search for countries or concepts. On the faculty member’s page, you can see which projects they’ve worked on with students in the past and learn about their interests by reading their publications’ titles or biosketch.
- Accessing the database: Navigate to Harvard Catalyst Profiles. Click the Login link (this is on the top left of your screen) to log on to the site with your HarvardKey, then select the Opportunity Search (this is the fourth grey tab near the top of the screen). You should now see Find Student Opportunities and some search option. Conduct your search from here. When you see a project title that interests you, click the project title for a fuller description.
- HMS Department of Global Health and Social Medicine: Visit their dedicated webpage for scholarly projects and links to their faculty.
- Global Health Programs at HMS-affiliated Hospitals: Look for HMS-affiliated faculty who are working on global health projects. Ask about joining an existing project, network with a faculty member to find other potential projects, or create your own project with a mentor.
- Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health: Explore current Harvard School of Public Health departments, institutes, and faculty who are carrying out projects across the world.
- Harvard Worldwide: Visit this site for Harvard offices abroad, research funding sources at Harvard, and information on Harvard’s worldwide activities and opportunities.
Resources
- Harvard Global Support Services: Essential travel guidance for Harvard students. See the travel tools and resources to help plan your trip
- Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit: For people who may be starting from scratch or need a refresher
- Global Health Delivery Project: A joint initiative of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University
- MEASURE Evaluation enables countries to safeguard public health and improve lives by strengthening their capacity to generate and use high-quality health information to make strategic decisions at local, national, and global levels that are responsive to specific contexts. Look under Our Work and select Data Science or other tools to help you collect and analyze your data.