Global Health and Underserved Populations Track

The Global Health and Underserved Populations Track (GHUP Track) is a unique program established in 2008 by Dr. Thuy Bui designed to train physician leaders in clinical medicine, education, health policy, and research in global health. At its foundation is a core internal medicine competency with a strong generalist perspective, cost-conscious practice, and back-to-basics diagnosis. Clinical training provides exposure to local and international sites, coupled with a curriculum and scholarly work designed to address health policy, public health, and social factors influencing health and disease in the global context.

• • The Department of Medicine offers up to 4 positions in GHUP track each year.
  • For additional information please contact Dr. Thuy Bui.
  • To see next steps for our graduates, please click here.

Components of the training program include the following:

Clinical experiences with underserved populations in the US:

• • Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility, Arizona (Indian Health Service)
  • The Birmingham Free Clinic, Street Medicine, and shelter-based clinics, Pittsburgh
  • Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Montana
  • Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation, Arizona

4 months of clinical training experiences at an International clinical training experiences  (1-2 months in PGY2 and PGY3 years)

• • Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi (Africa)
  • Georgetown Public Hospital, Georgetown, Guyana
  • Philippine General Hospital, Manila, Philippines

Mentorship

Each resident in this track is assigned a faculty mentor who has extensive experience working with vulnerable populations in Southwestern Pennsylvania and/or in low-income countries. The mentor will ensure that each resident achieves all the goals of the residency track and receives the appropriate guidance and resources to pursue additional training or a position after residency. Residents who are interested in pursuing health services research in Pittsburgh with potential global health implications will be matched with funded researchers in the Division of General Internal Medicine.

Global Health Preparatory Seminar

A month-long global health preparatory seminar is offered for global health residents and interested categorical residents. This seminar covers public policy, health systems, financing, human rights/ethics, and clinical skills relevant to resource-poor settings (parasitology, procedural skills, portable ultrasound, etc.). Guest lecturers and faculty discussants are from the Graduate School of Public Health, the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and other institutes and disciplines.

• • Point-of-care Ultrasound (POCUS)
  • Certificate in Parasitology and Tropical Medicine

Clinical Rotation and Scholarly Project

An integral component of the Global Health and Underserved Populations Track is a longitudinal project on a relevant global health issue. The project itself can focus on underserved populations in the United States but should have global perspectives based on the international experience. Typically, up to 4 months at an international site is split up between the second and third years of residency. Residents would need to complete the required licensing and paperwork required for clinical practice according to the medical council or regulatory body of each host country. Residents will work under the guidance of clinical faculty at each partnered site. Scholarly projects are possible at the host site, and they include quality improvement study, curriculum development and evaluation, and health policy and advocacy paper.

Categories of Scholarly Project include:

• • Systematic description and documentation of a specific health problem
  • Service-based quality improvement study
  • Program development and evaluation
  • Community needs assessment and population surveys
  • Health policy and advocacy paper
  • Humanism in medicine paper with concentration on global and international issues

Pittsburgh’s Ambulatory Curriculum for Trainees in Low-Resource Settings (PACT LRS)

The Pittsburgh’s Ambulatory Curriculum for Trainees in Low Resource Settings (PACT LRS) is an open access, evidence-based, ambulatory care syllabus designed for medical learners caring for people in underserved areas around the world.

This project was initially conceived to focus the professional interest of the GH track residents to address the educational priorities of their international partners, specifically the medical students from the Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM for its initials in Portuguese). A needs and opportunity assessment performed at UCM in 2015 revealed that the diagnosis and clinical management of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) was not greatly emphasized in their medical school’s curriculum. Therefore, the modules encompass subjects that UPMC residents are quite familiar with, specifically NCDs, and other clinical topics that Mozambican students requested via the aforementioned survey. To enhance the medical knowledge and clinical competencies of other medical trainees in low resource settings, we disseminate these modules free of cost via this online platform.

To access these modules, please click here.

Global Health Equity Lecture Series

The track lunch is designed to advance core competencies in HIV/AIDS, tropical diseases, public health, policy and advocacy, human rights, bioethics, and health services research. It also serves as a forum for health professionals, residents, and students from medicine and other disciplines to share ideas and opportunities to advance the global health agenda. All GHUP track residents contribute to the series through case presentation, exploring social and structural determinants of health and presenting latest evidence for practice in resource-limited setting.