residency & international experience

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mdfoune

MDfoune
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Hey,I was wondering if anybody knew of any OB/GYN residencies which offer International experiences to their residents??? I am completing a MPH in International health and am really interested in programs which would allow me to have an International experience during residency.

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Hi. I'm starting as an Ob-Gyn PGy-1 this July. I was also interested in international experiences. Unfortunately it's hard even to find programs with electives! From the 12 interviews I did the following programs had some promise: Kaiser Oakland, UC Davis (lots of elective time), Pennsylvania Hospital (Philadelphia), U of Utah, U of Minnesota. No program I interviewed at really had anything built in but if you ask during your interview day you can see how receptive the program is to you doing an international elective and what people have done in the past (if they even have electives). Also remember that the patient population varies a lot between programs, so at some hospitals you will be working with a mostly immigrant population which you might find valuable. I would recommend doing a 4th year rotation abroad. It's a lot easier than doing something during residency!
 
Several of the programs (if not all) that I interviewed with this past year definitely had elective time. Most of them were in the PGY3 year but some were as early as PGY2. (There were a handful of programs with 2 elective periods.) The ones that I can remember off the top of my head where residents went abroad during their elective time are: UCSF, UPitt, BIDMC, OHSU, Seattle, Denver, Univ of Chicago, and Brown. UCSF is very big on international experience and some of the residents were even doing international-related research projects. I believe UPitt was in the process of even giving some sort of funding for their residents to go abroad in the future. I think for the most part it is your decision what to do with your elective time: research at your program, international experience, etc. It is usually up to you to find and plan your own elective time, but the upper level residents are usually a good place to start and ask on the interview trail!
 
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thanks for all the info!!! :) i started to investigate on the FRIEDA website, and the only programs I have found so far that listed as offering International experiences are: NYU, Albert Einstein, and Brigham.
 
thanks for all the info!!! :) i started to investigate on the FRIEDA website, and the only programs I have found so far that listed as offering International experiences are: NYU, Albert Einstein, and Brigham.

FREIDA probably won't be complete by any means, so be sure to ask on your interviews, or contact them and ask them directly prior to applying if that's really important to you. I'd say most allow you to do an elective and most of those will let you go international if you want. I remember actually being surprised at how many programs offered such experiences.
 
Stanford has established opportunities in Guatemala, Juarez, Mexico, and Eritrea. From the interview trail, I also recall that Beth Israel Deaconess in boston has connections with international programs.
 
Check Frieda's website. Almost all programs on there have a yes/no answer to international experience opportunities.
 
Northwestern gives you 5 weeks of research/ flex time during your third year. Most people go abroad depending on their specific interest
 
From a friend that did the interview circuit for an Intl OB fellowship. He said the only established formal fellowships he knows of are Duke, UAB, and new this year is Univ of Illinois. So I suppose a residency at those places would be good as well.

Also, Im doing an Intl EM fellowship this year with PACEMD (www.pacemd.org) and we are HEAVILY involved in Maternal Health in Mexico. In fact, Ashoka just paid for a "Young Champion in Maternal Health" to work with us for a year, and the Mexican govt last month gave us a million peso grant to be the sole provider of ALSO (Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics) courses in Mexico. We also received a $200k grant from the Gates foundation last year for our ALSO program which we passed along to our affliates in Oaxaca. Its really cutting edge social change if anyone is interested in a fellowship, rotation, or just a intensive medical Spanish program.

Happy to help,
Dave Price
[email protected]
 
Also was at CWRU- University Hospitals interview the other day and it looks like they are starting a sweet global health track for residents this July- with one week conference experiences in the first and second year and then a 4-6 week clinical experience in the 3+4 year w/ research opportunities.
 
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