Throughout the Brown community, there is great expertise as well as palpable enthusiasm for international health. Opportunities range from working with individual physicians who serve in a direct care capacity, taking part in formal medical exchange program, or participating in developed research projects within established international collaborations. The options for international electives at Brown are numerous and diverse. Approximately 25% of our residents participate in some form.
Education
Formal medical education exchange programs (presently both in Kenya and the Dominican Republic), are designed to improve education and patient care in Brown’s hospitals and in the host country’s hospitals through long-term, mutual collaboration. Rotations are bi-directional: foreign students learn and teach on Miriam and Rhode Island Hospital wards while Brown residents and students do the same abroad. Through these experiences, young physicians are exposed to a different spectrum of diseases and approaches to care. For example, a Brown resident may return with an understanding of malaria’s impact in the developing world while a Kenyan student returns to her country with an understanding of the impact of cardiovascular disease in Rhode Island. This bilateral exchange of ideas and trainees offers a unique opportunity for cross-cultural collaboration and relationships.
Research
Brown researchers are presently working in a variety of countries (India, Cambodia, Philippines, and Ghana, among others) in fields ranging from tuberculosis to women’s health to HIV prevention.
Clinical Care
All collaborations are grounded in the desire to provide quality health care throughout the world, to alleviate pain and suffering wherever it exists, and to address service inequities that contribute to poor health. All Brown educational programs share the belief that knowledge and its exchange are the keys to these goals.
International Careers
Over the last five years, graduates of our programs (Categorical, GIM & Med/Peds) have obtained positions in Malawi, Botswana, Ukraine and Kenya, as well as the CDC. While most of our residents who spend time abroad during residency pursue careers in the United States, the experience lasts a lifetime and makes us all better doctors and people.
More info can be found on the BRIGHT Pathway’s website.