About the Office of Global Health

Javier I. Escobar, MD

Associate Dean for Global Health
Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine

We are in a global age. While the world economy was the first to follow this path, it has quickly spread to other areas such as health and many leading US academic institutions have by now embraced global issues.

According to AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) data, there has been a significant increase in the number of medical students that participate in overseas clinical activities (from 6% a decade ago, to almost 40% since 2000) and these numbers keep growing. Here at RWJMS, a recent survey (November 2012) shows that over one third of RWJMS medical students indicated an interest in participating in a rotation abroad during their medical school years.

We are developing a Global Health Curriculum for Medical Students and plan to offer Global Health electives.

The major goals of the global health programs are:

• To enhance medical students’ awareness on global issues related to health
• To encourage medical students to immerse themselves in the culture and health system of other countries
• To send groups of medical students to different institutions all over the world with whom we have ongoing educational collaborations
• To provide information about clinical and community programs in diverse ethnic communities in New Jersey that would benefit & enhance the clinical experiences of students
• To stimulate and support international activities of the faculty including educational, clinical, and research activities

Medical Students' International Rotations

Major goals of this experience are to sharpen students’ interviewing and physical examination skills, their understanding of cost-constrained care, and the importance of public health; to influence future US physicians to serve domestic under-served populations and to enhance the ability for future physicians to advocate for the needs of under-served patient populations throughout the world. Taking advantage of many of the above agreements and active collaborations, we are planning new summer experiences for our RWJMS students. This year we expect a group will be going to Japan, Taiwan, Ecuador, Peru, Argentian, India, Bangladesh, and Ireland where students would get exposure to ongoing clinical, academic and research programs including visits to rural areas. The students will also visit community clinics and interact with local students and faculty.

CME Courses in Global Health

The office of global health will develop and sponsor a broad range of educational activities in global health. This will include lectures in key global health areas by outside experts that will be scheduled in collaboration with several departments in the school. Also, we hope lectures on the topic of global health will make it into the Grand Rounds of clinical departments in the school.

Javier I. Escobar, MD

Associate Dean for Global Health