International/Global Health Experiences

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of planning early. A number of summer programs have December and January deadlines. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to find the experience you want or help in funding that experience.

• Planning (see first required form due February 1)
• Registration (see second required form due 6 weeks before experience begins)
• Opportunities & Associated PennMed Student Reports
• Funding:  Overview/Site-Specific/General/Year-Out
• Travel Arrangements

Planning an International Experience

Planning an international experience means investigating the opportunities (those found on this website or others that you may identify on your own), making inquiries, networking, and finalizing projects and logistics.  Regardless of your stage in the process, if you plan to have an international experience related to your medical school studies, you should complete and submit a Global Health Experience Planning Form by February 1 of the year in which your experience will take place.  This is the first required form in the global health experience process.  It provides all Penn medical students with equal access to resources and can result in a reserved opportunity for you, pending your completion of all opportunity-specific requirements.  These requirements and full descriptions can be found on the webpage for Global Health Opportunities.   Please note that the Global Health Experience Planning Form is only the first step.  Once your project has been finalized, and before your departure, you must register your global health experience.

A special note on clinical activity:  MS1/2 students are not qualified for clinical activity in which they could be exposed to blood and body fluids.  Regardless of your year in medical school, you should never agree to engage in activities at a global health site that you would not be qualified for at Penn Medicine.  MS3/4 students who are qualified for clinical work must review PEP instructions and have a reliable source of PEP drugs.

Applications for some opportunities will be somewhat complex.  Various types of documentation may be required.  Most frequently, these include: 

• immunizations (you can obtain a copy from the Student Health Service)
• personal health insurance (if you have student health insurance @ Penn, it provides worldwide coverage; the Student Health Service Insurance Office can provide a letter documenting that you are insured)
• malpractice insurance (in the Registrar area of Suite 100, request a letter of good standing that indicates the extent of your malpractice insurance coverage during the time of your international experience)

Please review the table below (be sure to scroll down), listing opportunities in Africa, South Asia, Central America, South America, Asia, and Europe. You may click on each project to get more information about the opportunity and, if available, related funding opportunities.  N.B.:  Global Health experiences may result in risks to your health and safety.  You must always carefully review the U.S. State Department's consular information sheets for the country/ies you will be visiting and pay special attention to crime and security sections.  For example, many Penn students pursue experiences in Guatemala and these experiences can be very rewarding.  However, the crime rate in many areas of Guatemala is extremely high and, although these events are rare, Penn medical students have been victims of theft and assault. 

Please note that for the past several years, our most popular clinical experience has been the Botswana Sub-I.  Typically, demand is significantly higher than the number of available slots.  Placement is decided by lottery.  Therefore, if you are interested in the Botswana Sub-I, please consider other options as well.  In the table below, you will see a variety of clinical opportunities, many of which are offered in countries where English (Botswana, Ghana, Tanzania, India, Belize, England, and Ireland) or Spanish (Argentina, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, and Spain) is widely spoken.

You may also wish to check the Faculty Tab to get a glimpse of who is doing what in global health at Penn.  

Note:  When planning , please note that Global Health Program funding is not available for experiences shorter than four weeks.  In addition, it is not available to fund experiences in any location where there is a current State Department Travel Warning.

Global Health Experience Registration

All students who have planned a global health experience must complete a Global Health Experience Registration Form prior to leaving the USA.   This is the second required form.  It includes a detailed checklist (including a mandatory review of the essential information found on the Travel Page of this website) to help you prepare for your experience.  You should begin working on this a minimum of two months prior to your anticipated departure.   

Please note that your Registration Form will also be used by the Registrar to ensure that your official records are updated.  For Scholarly Pursuits that have an international component, in addition to the Global Health Experience Registration, you will need to meet the specific requirements of the Registrar. 

If you have questions about Scholarly Pursuit requirements, please contact the Registrar.  For all other questions, please contact Global Health Programs.

Travel Arrangements

You should seek the most economical fare possible, without building in side trips.  Some travel sites to try include: 

• Kayak
• Opodo  (you'll have to convert cost from British Pounds)
• Premier Tours
  

Last updated:  September 30, 2009