DEVELOPING A SUCCESSFUL GLOBAL HEALTH PROGRAM

Introduction & Objective International travel and relocation leads to the need for family physicians well versed in global health. The Northwell Health department of family medicine created a global health program for both residents and faculty. The mission of the program is to improve the health and well-being of children and families living in medically underserved communities in low and middle income countries through clinical care, education and research. Methods • Determined the resources available for the program (time, faculty, funds) • Created both a longitudinal curriculum as well as short burst intensive electives for those pursuing the extra education. • Partnered with the department of pediatrics who were embarking on a similar project. • Followed a strategic approach to the global rotations o Phase 1  Build partnerships with institutions located in key low-middle income countries for clinical and public health rotations o Phase 2  Develop research collaborations with existing partner sites and also build collaborations with dedicated research institutions in resource limited countries o Phase 3  Initiate opportunities for faculty exchanges, telemedicine and long-term educational interventions Results & Conclusions Since the revamping of our program 2 years ago, we have created 5 global sites and one local (US based) site for the training. There have been over 30 residents who have participated in the intense program along with 7 faculty. This has become a very competitive program and has increased built bidirectional global health and educational networks amongst our program and global sites