GH Program
The GH Program was started at Danbury Hospital (now Nuvance Health) in 2012 by founding director Majid Sadigh, M.D., who at the time was a UVM clinical associate professor of medicine. The GH Program and the Larner College of Medicine established several international partner sites—in Uganda, the Dominican Republic (DR), Vietnam, Thailand, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Today, the program provides collaborative partnership to support global health learning and elective opportunities for students, residents, and staff.
Global Health Electives at Larner
General Information
M1 GH Elective FAQs
Travel summer (6 weeks – end of June to beginning of August)
Limited # of funded spots/ self-funding option
Required intro to global health pre course and predeparture bootcamp
Application process begins Fall of M1 year
Must be in good academic standing to participate
Schedule
Mid-September – Application opens
End of October – deadline to submit application
November – Applicant interviews
January – offer letters sent
March – Intro to GH lunch series begins
March – travel locations confirmed
May - tickets purchased
End of June - Travel
M4 GH Elective FAQs
Program Schedule
Late Feb./ March – Application opens ( spring of M3 year)
Early April – Application deadline
April – Applicant interviews
May – offer letters sent
August – Deadline to accept offer
Important details to consider:
Travel occurs winter/ spring of 4th year
Flexible timing – 6 weeks preferred but option for 4 weeks
- Limited # of funded spots/ self-funding option
Special travel considerations: Match Day, and Lunar New Year (Vietnam)
Must be in good academic standing to participate
Home stay accommodations available in certain locations
M4 TA Position
Travel in Summer with first year students
Student Responsibilities for travel
• Familiarize yourself with UVM's international travel policy linked here:Medical Student Handbook and Policies | Larner Medical Student Handbook | The University of Vermont
• Complete UVM GoAbroad process
• Travel to/from JFK which is the departing city for more GH sites
• Change fees for flights etc. if you change plans/itinerary
• Passport valid >6 months
• Visa (depending on country)
• Health Insurance
• Travel Insurance (should you want it)
• Travel Clinic
• Medications including vaccination, PEP, malaria prophylaxis
• In country daily travel (taxi, Uber, etc.)
• Laundry, Food outside of host family
Contact the Global Health Leadership Team
Cristin Gildea
Global Health Coordinator and Program Specialist:
cristin.gildea@med.uvm.edu
8026564259
Mariah McNamara, MD
Associate Director of the University of Vermont Global Health Program
mariah.mcnamara@med.uvm.edu
The "Why" of the Global Health elective rotation
Medical students who have completed an international clinical rotation may learn to more readily recognize disease presentations, develop more comprehensive physical exam skills and approach patients with greater cultural sensitivity – all attributes that make for becoming better clinicians.