Virtual Global Health Elective

Program overview

The CFHI Virtual Global Health elective offers inter-professional trainees a unique opportunity to build key Global Health competencies. Students will explore global and public health issues broadly, highlighting how health systems around the world deliver healthcare in a variety of environments, while examining cultural interplays, developing agility for making healthcare decisions in diverse settings, and expanding self-awareness. 

Participants will learn how communities are addressing pressing health challenges, including chronic disease, maternal-child health, infectious disease, and reproductive health, all while gaining insights into the public health realities internationally, reverse innovation, and interplays of international development and health. They will face the novel concept of planetary health, its scientific and ethical basis, and its foundational principles and frameworks. Tangible skill development includes critical reflection, cross-cultural effectiveness & adaptability, and health systems comparatives.

This elective is intended to be a full-time, 4-week commitment. The elective contains live sessions with peers and international faculty members and self-paced readings, assignments and group work. Participants will produce a final e-portfolio compiling all completed assignments, serving as a key component for successful elective completion. Contact Virtual Programs Coordinator, Gonzalo Claure, gonzalo@cfhi.org with questions.

Exclusive $250 tuition for students located in
Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)

General information
Country
Virtual Electives Virtual Seminars & Courses
Focus
Communicable diseases Maternal & Reproductive Health Pediatrics & Child Health Planetary Health Public Health Virtual Global Health 4th-Year Medical Student Electives
Languages
English
Fees and Duration
4 Weeks - $495
Start Dates
July 1st, 2024

About this program

Who Can Apply?

This elective is built for senior/advanced health professions trainees including 3rd/4th year medical students, residents, physician assistant trainees, NPs, pharmacy final year students, and other advanced health professions trainees.

Program Components
  1. What is Global Health
  2. Planetary and One Health
  3. Global Health Ethics
  4. Social Determinants of Health
  5. Diversity, Equity, and Health Disparities
  6. Cross-Cultural Effectiveness and Adaptability (Includes free embedded access to the Globesmart tool by Aperian and the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale by the Kozai Group)
  7. Global Burden of Disease
  • Training module: Self Care & Wellness for virtual programs
  • Training Module: Professionalism & Global Health Ethics
  • Facilitated group reflection sessions 
  • Access to the CFHI Global Health Professional Development Hub events and materials
  • Support from CFHI’s Virtual Programs Coordinator
  • Access to the local Classroom, depository of program support links, reading materials, presentations, and recordings of the virtual sessions
  • Orientation, mid-term follow up, and end-of-program meetings with the Virtual Programs Coordinator    
Scholarships

Partial scholarships:
Special $250 Program Pricing for for students located in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Please email students@cfhi.org to request your coupon code.

100% scholarships:
Full scholarships are also available, more information here. Feel free to contact tania@cfhi.org if you have any questions.

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Learning objectives

CFHI Virtual Global Health Electives have the following learning objectives and competency development goals:

  • With respect to patients and populations, articulate the relationship between health and the social determinants of health. 
  • Demonstrate an understanding of cultural and ethical issues in working with and learning within the context of underserved populations. 
  • Demonstrate an understanding of barriers to health, as well as healthcare delivery strategies and systems in low-resource settings, and how these influence access to care. 
  • Demonstrate a commitment to professional behavior in cross-cultural settings and a respect for differences in knowledge, practices, and culture. 
  • Identify the major causes of morbidity and mortality affecting global populations and health disparities between populations.
  • Utilizing validated tools assess, reflect on, and develop in quantifiable terms multiple dimensions of intercultural effectiveness. 

The above framework was developed for post-graduate medical education, however it encapsulates the educational approach required for advanced undergraduate medical education. Utilizing this model, CFHI Virtual Global Health Electives blend multiple education modalities embedded in an ethically-informed approach to pedagogy and practice.

Schedule Overview

The Virtual Global Health Elective course is taught to only fifteen students at a time. The program schedule requires students to commit to approximately 10-hours of synchronous work per week to attend lectures, seminars and office hours, plus additional time to work independently or in small groups on tasks and duties assigned by the teaching faculty. The Elective is taught in 4-week sessions at different times of the year. Alternate start dates are not available for the elective. 

By the end of the Elective, students will have created an E-portfolio, a compilation of assignments, learning and perspectives acquired. We encourage the inclusion of written and creative multimedia reflections. The E-portfolio serves as one of the primary tools for evaluating your performance in this class, in addition to attendance, engagement and participation during the live sessions. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of student is eligible to take the Virtual Global Health Elective?

Advanced clinical health professions trainees including final-year medical, nurse practitioner, dental, physician assistant, pharmacy, allied health students and residents/fellows.

What topics are covered in the elective?

The elective curriculum develops competency in pillars of global health, ethics, planetary health, intersectoral global health and health systems comparatives. To learn more, please read the full course description above.

How many hours per week do the faculty teach online (live) classes?

Live class sessions are between 10-12 hours per week, generally in the mornings (U.S. Eastern time), with a few afternoon sessions. Students are expected to attend to all live sessions. However,  a student is unable to attend a class, they are expected to watch a recording of the missed session.

Who are the teaching faculty?

CFHI draws from its global team who are healthcare professionals, NGO leaders, faculty members and individuals deeply committed to their communities and imparting their global health-focused work. To review faculty bios, click on the Faculty & Facilitators information below.

What is the cost of the course?

For students located in high-income countries, the tuition is $495. For students located in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), the tuition is $250. Full tuition scholarships are also available.

Where do I apply for the elective? Is there an application deadline?

To submit an applicaton, click on the “Apply Now” button at the top of your screen and follow the prompts.

If I have further questions, who do I contact?

Gonzalo Claure, CFHI Virtual Programs Director, gonzalo@cfhi.org

Tania Martínez, Virtual Elective Teaching Assistant, tania@cfhi.org

Faculty & Facilitators

Dr. Charles Chineme Nwobu
Dr. Charles Chineme Nwobu
Virtual Elective Faculty

Dr. Charles Chineme Nwobu- Virtual Elective Faculty

Dr. Nwobu is a Public Health Physician in Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive, Sexual and Child Health and a Development Specialist. He holds a Master’s in Public health for development from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and was a student ambassador of this leading institution in public health. He also has a certification in International Development from the prestigious University of Cambridge, UK. He additionally holds a BSc in Medical Sciences and a medical degree (MBChB) from the University of Ghana Medical School. He has experience working in the public and the private health sector in Ghana as a Physician – Family/General Practitioner mostly in Maternal and Child Health. He is a strong global health advocate with prior experience working as a regional leader in the global health organisation IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students Associations) where he served as the IFMSA Regional Coordinator for Africa for two consecutive years and next as the Alumni Relations Support Division Director. He is part of the Junior Doctors Network (JDN) of the World Medical Association (WMA). Along with serving as CFHI’s Medical and Program Director for Ghana, he also currently serves as a steering and working committee member of an international network known as CHIFA (Child Health and Rights Information for All), with the head office based in the U.K. In the African region, he currently serves as one of the chosen consultants in the expert community of the current African Union Youth Envoy.

Dr. Geoffrey Anguyo
Dr. Geoffrey Anguyo
Virtual Elective Faculty

Dr. Geoffrey Anguyo- Virtual Elective Faculty

Dr. Anguyo is the Founder and Executive Director of CFHI’s local partner, a Ugandan non-profit organization that prides itself on the creation of an “Activated Community.” Dr. Anguyo has been practicing medicine for over twenty years in Uganda, working in government hospitals, private clinics and through non-profit healthcare delivery. His specialty is HIV/AIDS. Dr. Anguyo grew up in Northern Uganda. As a child, his family was displaced by political violence, fleeing to Congo DRC. These early experiences were formative, and today Dr. Anguyo remains committed to developing practical solutions to improving healthcare and livelihood in Uganda. Dr. Anguyo is currently working on his Doctorate in Public Health at Bath University in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Jessica Evert
Dr. Jessica Evert
Virtual Elective Faculty

Dr. Jessica Evert- Virtual Elective Faculty

Dr. Evert straddles international education and the medical profession. As Executive Director of Child Family Health International (CFHI), she leads one of the largest and most well-respected Global Health experiential learning organizations, with over 40 programs in 11 countries, and over 200 collaborating universities. Dr. Evert is Faculty in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where she instructs in Global Health and community-based underserved care and helped develop, as well as completed, the Global Health Clinical Scholars residency track. Dr. Evert is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine and is a longtime advocate for health-related international education quality and ethical standards. She is author and editor of multiple chapters, articles and books in global health with a focus on education, ethics, and asset-based engagement, including the seminal texts, including Global Health Experiential Education: From Theory to Practice, Developing Global Health Programming: A Guidebook for Medical and Professional Schools, 2nd Ed, Global Health Training in Graduate Medical Education, 2nd Ed and Reflection in Global Health: An Anthology. She helped develop the Forum on Education Abroad’s Standards for Health-Related Undergraduate Programs. Dr. Evert is a recipient of Global Health Education Consortium’s prestigious Christopher Krogh Award for her dedication to underserved populations at home and abroad. Dr. Evert’s research and advocacy areas of focus are the ethics of global educational engagement, competency-based international education, health disparities, asset-based programmatics and reflection.

Mary White, PhD
Mary White, PhD
Virtual Elective Faculty

Mary White, PhD- Virtual Elective Faculty

Dr. White taught medical and public health ethics and global health for 25 years at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, retiring in 2020. Her global health experience includes teaching in medical schools and working with NGOs in Ethiopia and Uganda. Most of her global health publications to date address global health education and research ethics. She has participated in this virtual elective with CFHI since 2021. Ongoing interests include palliative care, global health humanities and global health education.

Gonzalo Claure
Gonzalo Claure
Virtual Programs Coordinator

Gonzalo Claure, Virtual Programs Coordinator

The role of Virtual Programs Coordinator is to support CFHI’s Global Team with organizing and facilitating virtual internships, electives, and custom programs. Gonzalo is a great resource for any questions related to virtual learning platforms and engaging virtual activities to provide students the most meaningful Global Health experience. He is also a CFHI Local Coordinator for CFHI place-based programs in La Paz, Bolivia.

Gonzalo is Supervisor of the Executive Branch at the language school where Bolivia programs’ Spanish classes and weekly meetings are held. The school was started by the U.S. government and has been existence for over 50 years, still retaining close ties to the U.S. Embassy. Gonzalo manages local recruitment programs and study abroad for universities and agencies in the US. He also creates and maintains academic networks for Bolivian and American universities and higher education institutions.

Tania Martínez Izaguirre
Tania Martínez Izaguirre
Teaching Assistant, Virtual Global Health Elective

Tania Martínez Izaguirre- Teaching Assistant

Tania is a Medical Student currently pursuing a Bachelor in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Costa Rica. One of her main goals as a future health care professional is to get involved into addressing health disparities and reaching underserved populations while understanding the realities and determinants of health in both individuals and communities. She supports the CFHI Virtual Elective in various ways including orientation, holding office hours, reviewing student assignments and e-portfolios, organizing the seminars, and more.

As an alumni of the CFHI Virtual Global Health Elective and part of the CFHI Team, Tania expects to keep building an increasingly thoughtful perspective of global health, interculturality and health equity.

What alumni say about this program

Priya A. Emergency Medicine Resident from USA, Alumni from March 2022
Yasmeen E.
Yasmeen E. Medical student South Africa, Alumni from January 2022

My name is Yasmeen Edross and I am a final year medical student at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. I feel honoured and immensely grateful for the opportunity to learn from and experience Global Health through this virtual elective. It has been such a pleasure to be able to gain all this knowledge about other countries, perspectives and approaches. Especially, being able to work together with other students and health professionals from countries with health systems I have not personally experienced but have heard is well-regarded. I’m excited to fully reflect on this wonderful experience in order to incorporate all I’ve gained into my final year of medicine and future life as a clinician. I truly hope to have another opportunity to engage with the CFHI staff and community! Thank you so much for allowing me to participate! I can’t thank you all enough. It’s been such fun!”

Samantha K. Medical Imaging Student from Ghana, Alumni from September 2022
Dr. Farah Niazi
Dr. Farah Niazi Dentist & Public Health, India, Alumni from October 2021

I think as a public health student and a professional, this program added extreme value to my knowledge and experience as well. Global health is a vast field and this program made sure that we touch every aspect of it. The ground realities and case studies that were provided were extremely fascinating. The concept of “Planetary Health” was very innovative and interesting thing to study about. Also the opportunity to interact with other students across the world was one of the main highlights of this program.

Priyanka R. Medical Doctor from India, Alumni from October 2021
Sandra B.
Sandra B. Medical student, from University of Nairobi- Kenya. Alumni from March 2022

CFHI Virtual Global Health Elective a four week elective offered me a great opportunity as a final-year medical student to explore global and public health issues broadly. I learned how different communities are addressing their most pressing health challenges, such as chronic disease, maternal-child health, infectious disease, and reproductive health, while also gaining insights into the region’s public health realities, reverse innovation, and international development and health interplays. The global health skills gained from this elective provide me a platform to impact not only an individual patient but also the global community as a whole. I am grateful to the organization for providing me with the scholarship. This elective was worthwhile.”

How to Apply

Create profile

Submit application

Hear back from CFHI team to schedule a short interview

Attend the program’s orientation

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