Our curriculum is designed to help physicians become productive and effective global citizens. Our program provides clinical care, education, and public health outreach to women around the world through partnerships with local health care professionals in order to improve access to quality obstetric and gynecologic care.
As a fellow, you will educate and train local health care providers—nurses, midwives, medical students, and physicians—in order to provide services under a sustainable health care model. You will provide independent basic obstetric and gynecologic care for women in developing countries. If you are board certified or board eligible, you can mentor residents in their clinical and surgical projects while abroad. You can also mentor residents independently on all educational and non-clinical projects at any time.
Fellows are also allowed to attend one public health conference each year.
During our program, you will:
- Provide night and weekend coverage on the Labor and Delivery unit at the Mount Sinai Health System throughout the academic year
- Complete and submit at least one research project or have one ready for submission to a peer-reviewed journal
- Present this research project at the end of year “Fellows Research Day”
- Write and apply for at least one privately or federally funded grant for a project in women's health
- Be able to independently oversee implementation of a women's global health project
- Be prepared to assume a leadership role in the field of global women's health
Women's Health and Human Rights
Our curriculum focuses on women's health and human rights. Through readings and lectures, you will understand how rape, sexual and domestic violence, armed conflict, internal displacement, human trafficking, early marriage, genital mutilation, and paternalistic laws and edicts affect women’s health. Fellows should be familiar with the following declarations that address health and women's rights: Declaration of Rights of the Women of the U.S. 1876; U.N. Declaration of Human Rights 1978; and Alma Ata Declaration 1978.
Global Health Organizations and Resources
Fellows will become familiar with the major industries and organizations that impact women's global health, such as the National Ministries of Health, United Nations agencies, non-governmental agencies (NGO), and funding resources.
Through the Levy Library, fellows will have access to resources such as the Human Poverty Index (HPI), The Multidevelopment Poverty Index (MPI), Global Burden of Disease, and Globocan.
Research
We protect time for research so that fellows can participate in the design and execution of their own research or clinical projects. After a topic is chosen, the fellow is expected to give progress updates and receive feedback from the program director. All grant writing, institutional review board (IRB) approval, and program development will be completed by the fellow in consultation with the assigned faculty mentor.
Fellows are expected to have or develop a working knowledge of basic statistical and qualitative software (SPSS, Atlas ti) and geographic information systems (GIS). Fellows will be expected to complete the IRB Human Subjects Research Training program offered online through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative at the University of Miami.
Field Work
As a fellow, you’ll participate in research projects offered at one or more of the Division's four international sites:
Liberia
In Liberia, the maternal death rate is 10,723 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births; one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. We have partnered with other departments, as well as other U.S. academic medical centers, to send teams of physicians to a tertiary care hospital to provide critical training to local health care providers to try to improve these outcomes.
South Africa
Since nearly 30 percent of workers in Limpopo, South Africa have HIV—often associated with human papilloma virus (HPV), a known precursor to cervical cancer—screening and treatment for cervical cancer was needed. To address this, we collaborated with Hoedspruit Training Trust and Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center, and trained local health workers to provide cervical cancer screening for sex workers and migrant farm workers at an established HIV treatment and prevention program.
Colombia
In Cartagena, Colombia, major gaps in care exist because of a lack of updated equipment and infrastructure. Through philanthropic funding from Fundaciόn Vida Raquel K. Gilinski, we purchased electronic fetal monitoring units for health care providers in Cartagena. Since then, we’ve been conducting workshops for technicians, obstetrical nurses, and physicians so that they can use this equipment to improve maternal and fetal health.
Dominican Republic
We collaborate with the Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC) to address health care concerns in the Dominican Republic. Our doctors have screened more than 500 patients for gynecological and urinary conditions such as pelvic masses, urinary incontinence, and Stage IV uterine prolapse. We have also collaborated with local physicians to educate and train numerous medical residents and students, including working with new technology such as a transvaginal simulator, to improve their skills. Our surgeons and anesthesiologists prepare lectures and offer opportunities to observe surgeries.