Rwanda Elective

This course was offered through UNMC’s Departments of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics for first- and fourth-year medical students interested in global health.

In 2015, Andrew Patterson, MD, and Megan Chacon, MD, of the UNMC Department of Anesthesiology traveled to Gitwe, Rwanda, to meet with physicians at Gitwe Hospital and explore the opportunity of a surgical, clinical, and educational program. Through that meeting, the Rwanda elective program was created, and the first student trip occurred in October 2016.  
 
Through the program, students participated in hospital rounds and visited rural community health centers, as well as participated in obstetric care. The experience immersed students in the health care system of Rwanda, focusing specifically on rural, low-resource environments. The primary goal was to encourage students to integrate international health care into their career. Gitwe Hospital is a small district hospital serving eight health centers in the Ruhango District. Students also spent time at the University of Kigali Teaching Hospital (CHUK) in the capital city of Kigali. CHUK offers greater choice in specialty elective rotation and a more academic teaching environment.

Medical Spanish and Global Health Course

This program is an immersion Spanish language study with onsite exposure to primary and community health care in a developing country.

The Office of Global Engagement (OGE) introduced the four-week Medical Spanish and Global Health course in Guatemala in 2000, and was subsequently moved to Nicaragua from 2009 to 2018. In 2019, a new partnership was established with Universidad Anáhuac Xalapa in Xalapa, Mexico.

The course offers two phases. Phase I provides three weeks of one-on-one instruction in the Spanish language, supplemented with six health lectures by local medical professionals, and weekend field trips. The final week of Phase I offers hands-on experience at local health facilities in Xalapa. The Phase II course includes one week of intensive Spanish instruction followed by three weeks of clinical exposure at local medical facilities.
 
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the course was redesigned in 2021 to allow U.S.-based UNMC students to participate in Spanish language classes, 30 hours per week for three weeks, via Zoom, with one-on-one instruction from linguistic professors from the partner university in Xalapa. During the final week, the students delivered presentations about delivery of health care to members of Omaha's Latino population.

International Student Research Forum

Held annually since 2005 at sites around the globe, the International Student Research Forum (ISRF) has provided outstanding development opportunities for graduate students and their growing circles of colleagues.

The mission of the ISRF is to provide an international stage for graduate research students to collaborate beyond the lines of disciplines and nationalities. The forum aims to attract the world’s brightest upcoming scientists and provides an opportunity to showcase world-class education and research. By building relationships with international colleagues at these forums, students are forging connections that can positively yield scientific advances that affect countless people around the world.
 
Each year, the ISRF brings together top doctorate students from at least five different countries and universities. Ten students are selected from each university to participate in the forum. In 2019, one of UNMC’s participants, Zijian Qin, a College of Public Health doctoral candidate, was part of the winning team of the $10 Challenge, which mixes students into groups from different countries. The teams are asked to identify important public health challenges, and come up with and present ideas for impactful, low cost, innovative, and technically feasible solutions using existing technology only.