A New Vision for Global Health

Global Health experiences don't have to happen on the other side of the globe, they can happen right here in Canada, and even as close as University Hospital. The Office of Global Health is working to change the way Schulich Medicine & Dentistry thinks about and teaches Global Health as part of the curriculum. "You don't have to travel anywhere to understand these concepts," says Melanie Katsivo, faculty director, Global Health. "The idea that you have to go far away to have global health experiences needs to be shifted."

The Office of Global Health has transitioned its mandate over the last year and has redirected its focus toward enhancing awareness about global health in every facet of the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry community and ensuring that every student has the opportunity to learn the value of global health. Along with coordinating global health experiences, the Office is also planning seminars and conferences with both international and local speakers, and is working to bring awareness about global health into both classroom and clerkship training.

Dr. Javeed Sukhera, academic director, Global Health Curriculum, is responsible for integrating global health into all four years of the undergraduate curriculum. He explains that global health evolved here originally led by students who had the enthusiasm and excitement to pursue international electives. While these experiences contributed greatly to their medical experience, it left many students untouched. "We want to encourage every student to understand that no matter what they do or where they go, this skillset and these competencies apply."

The message about global health that the office wants students to take away is that every patient and every symptom is part of a bigger picture. "Sometimes in medical education we become so focused on becoming experts in things, but it takes a lot of effort to step back and see the forest from the trees and to recognize that what you are seeing is part of something bigger," says Dr. Sukhera.

How a patient experiences a disease and how they use the medical system is influenced immensely by the landscape that they are living in. "Their socioeconomic situation,their cultural, political and religious landscape, all of these things come into play," says Dr. Leah Mawhinney, academic director, Global Health International Learning. "That's why global health experiences aren't just international; they are national and local as well." Dr. Mawhinney is responsible for coordinating global health experiences and managing clinical pre-departure training and debriefing after they return. The emphasis is on the clinical ethics, reflecting on their own experiences and biases and recognizing how to maximize clinical learning in these contexts.

All of these efforts are done through collaborations with different groups across Western University, including the Master in Public Health program, Western International, and the faculties of Health Science and Social Science.