Global Community Immersion Program

Engage first-hand with health challenges around the world through Carle Illinois College of Medicine Global Community Immersion Program. During your discovery learning session, you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in an international community for three weeks. There, you will be challenged to identify an unmet medical need abroad, which will in turn provide you with data and inspiration to create a solution. As a Carle Illinois student training abroad, you will learn from local leaders and contribute to the community through teaching seminars or assisting in local health facilities.

Preparation and Application

To prepare for your global immersion experience, you will take a specially-designed two-credit hour course preparing you for cross-cultural effectiveness, and equip you for a productive partnership with the client community. You may also use this experience to prompt direction for your Innovation, Design, Engineering and Analysis (IDEA) Projects, which could ultimately become your Capstone Project. Then, bring your data and ideas to the Health Maker Lab, working alongside world-class research mentors to develop innovative solutions to the global health challenges you are most passionate about.

Partners

Njala University
Sierra Leone

The Njala University Hospital provides health care services not only to about 10,000 students, staff and their relatives, but extends those services to the immediate communities adjacent to it. As a rural-based hospital, it caters for the healthcare needs of over 300,000 rural inhabitants covering the four adjacent chiefdoms of Kori, Dasse, Kamajei, and Kowa lying within an average radius of 40 miles.

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
Rio de Jainero, Brazil

The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation is a scientific institution for research and development in biological sciences located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is considered one of the world’s main public health research institutions. It was founded by Dr. Oswaldo Cruz, a noted physician and epidemiologist.

The National Institute of Women, Children and Adolescents Health Fernandes Figueira (IFF) carries out important work related to breastfeeding and is a reference for children with cystic fibrosis and other serious illnesses. The hospital offers the only free-care ambulatory for medical genetics in the country, and a modern nursery for high-risk newborn infants.

Rotations and assistance to patients with infectious diseases such as STDs and AIDS, tegumental leishmaniasis, fungal infections, Chagas’ disease, TB and dengue, among others, is the specialty of the Evandro Chagas Institute of Clinical Research (IPEC).

Future Partners

Potential global and domestic locations include: Uganda, India, Peru, United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, China, Australia, Chicago, Champaign-Urbana/Champaign County, Appalachia, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Native American communities, Amish communities, and migrant farmers communities in the southern U.S.

Through the Global Community Immersion Program, you will gain well-rounded, cross-cultural experience, preparing you for patient care. As a program participant, become a globally-minded physician-innovator who will lead the way in democratizing healthcare delivery and make excellent health care affordable and available to all.

Sponsored by the Center for Global Studies through support of the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI NRC Program.