The first annual Global Health and Medicine Fair was recently held outside Caroline House in the Faculty of Health Sciences for first year medical students at the Medical School for International Health (MSIH). The first-year curriculum includes a requirement that students volunteer with an organization or charity as part of their global health training.
The idea of the fair came from Dr. Seema Biswas, the course coordinator for “Introduction to Anthropology” and lectures on other global health topics at the MSIH. She is a trauma surgeon at Ziv Hospital, who is pursuing her PhD at BGU. She has extensive global health experience, and has worked as a volunteer surgeon on humanitarian medical missions with several organizations. Dr. Biswas gathered local leaders in community health and humanitarian projects together in order to facilitate student interest in global health projects and volunteer activities in the Negev.
The first-year medical student blog, now in its third year, continues to be a source of information and inspiration to prospective students and anyone interested in global health. September blogger of the month, Jonah Kreniske, a graduate of Earlham College with a degree in Biochemistry, just published a post on the GHM fair, and his feelings about being at the MSIH…check out his post.