Global Health Pathway

• Describe key terms, principles and challenges of global health
• Identify the key players, institutions, political bodies, and non-governmental organizations that contribute to health promotion and policies
• Explain examples of success and failures of global health projects based on materials presented by experts in the field
• Describe the relevant literature and background as well as the global health context for your planned projects
• Produce & carry out a project plan
• Explain the ethical challenges and implications of your project
• Improve your scholarly presentation skills by creating an abstract and poster for a local, regional, national or international conference
• Present succinctly your project's vision, goals, and general description to the uninformed listener

• GHS 101 Introduction to Global Health Course Pre-Requisite
• Full time attendance of the September course
• 20 hours of independent project work
• Attend 3 WIPS (works in progress session) and/or 3 check-ins  (conferences) with directors (resident participation is optional, but we encourage residents and fellows to reach out to the GH Pathway Directors at any point if you need project support)
• Project design and completion with close faculty mentorship that will be presented at a local, regional, national or international conference

The course will be a mixture of concepts, implementation, and research skill, and participants will obtain background understanding of the vocabulary, problems, and concepts in global health, in order to develop tools for success in global health careers. Learning will be both didactic and experiential, and will be led by experts who will discuss their successes and challenges in global anesthesia, HIV projects, health systems design, as well as practical skill-building in survey design, cultural conflict, research ethics, and behavioral economics.  

The course is designed for students, residents and fellows interested in a deeper look at Global Health, project mentorship, and contact with GH faculty. Most learners will participate in coursework and complete a mentored scholarly project related to global health.

Is there a cost to participate in the GH Pathway?

• No, the GME Pathways Program, which includes the GH Pathway, is offered free to our UCSF trainees and students.

What is a Legacy Project?

• The project work requirement in the pathways program is based on the principle that program participants need to engage in and produce scholarly work. All scholars (unless exempted by their Residency Program Director), with their mentor’s review and consent, are expected to present their projects (abstract and poster format) at a conference before graduating. Ideally, the project proposal would be based on international work. If the resident’s program/department is unable to accommodate international work by the scholar, the project can be accomplished without travel, for example by completing an in-depth literature review with analysis of future directions for specific research.
• Some examples of the types of projects students can complete are:
  • Write a Fulbright Scholarship GH project Application
  • Do a formal literature review on a GH topic (background for future project)
  • Design a healthcare education intervention
  • Design a survey for an international partner
  • Analyze data for an existing research project
  • Manuscript for publication
  • Program Evaluation
  • Education Module
  • Short Film
  • Survey Tool
  • Production of policy documents
  • Collaborative project across disciplines and schools 

Do I need to have a project and mentor identified before the course?

• Scholars should try to identify a mentor and develop ideas for a project proposal during the summer months before the course begins. We encourage you to use the UCSF Global Research Projects database as resources that can help you identify a mentor and current projects they are working on. If you need advice about finding a mentor or a letter of introduction please contact:
  • Carmen Cobb-Walch, MD, Global Health Pathway Director

What about funding for project work and related travel?

• UME Students who are interested in receiving funding for research and/or research related travel, please check the quarterly grants information to review the exact deadlines. Please note that the deadline for the application occurs the quarter before the work abroad is planned.
• Residents who are interested in funding opportunities may discuss this with their residency program directors to identify resources in their departments. In addition, the Resident Research Training Program has several funding opportunities for research and/or research related regional travel to present UCSF-related work.

I’m a Deep Explore student. Why should I take this course/pathway?

• In addition to receiving 4 weeks towards your Deep Explore project time, this course would be very helpful in gaining mentoring to help you execute your projects that are oriented toward global health. There are three additional features we like to highlight.  Residents and fellows also participate in this program, which provides students with a unique opportunity to interact with others crafting a career in global health. Second, the course partners with other departments to host Works in Progress sessions that provides additional feedback on projects and challenges. Third, this course is an instrumental step in becoming more integrated and connected to the global health community at UCSF. ​​​​​