Office of Global Health Education and Visiting Student Programs
Global Health Education
The Office of Global Health Education and Visiting Student Programs offers global health electives during the preclinical years as well as clinical electives in the U.S. and in international settings to assist students in learning about the social determinants and their effect on health. The office also offers a certificate in global medicine and welcomes international and domestic medical students to apply for clinical electives at Yale School of Medicine.
Certificate in Global Medicine
The Certificate in Global Medicine is awarded upon graduation to Yale School of Medicine students who demonstrate competence in global health and provides recognition that a student has completed required didactic course work, scholarly work, global health clinical experience, and language, culture, and leadership activities relevant to global health. This certificate allows students to develop expertise and prepares students for leadership in global health through the attainment of knowledge, skills, and attitude essential for success in this field. Requirements for earning the certificate can be completed over four (or five) years, while maintaining flexibility in terms of both the timing and content of these opportunities. It is expected that students pursuing the certificate will engage with the community of practitioners and scholars working on global health at Yale and around the world. International field experience in global health is an integral part of the program.
Additional information is available at https://medicine.yale.edu/md-program/special-programs/global-health/.
Visiting Student Programs
Yale School of Medicine offers four-week clinical rotations to medical students in their final year of medical school. Yale provides a dynamic and academically enriching environment for advanced clinical training. To be eligible, students must be in good academic standing at either a U.S. LCME-accredited medical school, a participating COCA-accredited AACOM member institution, or an international school accredited by a body recognized by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) and listed in the AAMC Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO®). For international students whose schools are not part of VSLO, Yale offers an alternative FreeMover application pathway, expanding access to its world-class clinical education.
Yale does not offer an observership program for visiting medical students.
Applicants may apply for up to three different electives in a range of clinical specialties, and the application process requires submission of key documents including a dean’s letter, academic transcript, curriculum vitae, personal statement, letter of recommendation, proof of immunizations and health insurance, and TOEFL or IELTS scores for international applicants.
Yale fosters a collaborative and intellectually rich learning environment, and visiting students are encouraged to engage fully with both the campus and the broader New Haven community throughout their clinical experience.
Additional information is available at https://medicine.yale.edu/md-program/visiting-students/.
Program for Biomedical Ethics
The Program for Biomedical Ethics (PBE) at Yale School of Medicine serves as a nexus for a community of individuals from throughout the medical campus and beyond who share a common interest in medical ethics. PBE incorporates a diverse group that brings a wide range of experience and expertise to the table, including faculty and staff from the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, the Law School, and the Divinity School, as well as Yale New Haven Hospital staff, and others, who share a common interest in education, research, and clinical practice in the field of medical ethics.
Our program coordinates the ethics education of Yale medical students over the course of the four years, including assistance for those who choose to write their thesis in this area. In addition, educational programs are provided for other members of the Yale medical community, such as journal clubs, working groups, and special conferences. Each academic year, we offer a wonderful slate of local and invited speakers for our evening seminar series.
The PBE also offers a Biomedical Ethics Concentration (BEC) for M.D. and M.D.-Ph.D. students. The BEC is intended to provide a substantial overview of the crucial and fascinating field of bioethics over the course of a student’s time at Yale, in greater depth and with greater exposure than that experienced by most medical students. While this concentration may be of interest to anyone pursuing a career in medicine, it will be of particular value to those considering a focus on bioethics in their future work, whether in education, clinical practice, government, or advocacy.
Program for Humanities in Medicine
The Program for Humanities in Medicine at Yale School of Medicine offers a lively, meaningful, and provocative approach to the art and practice of medicine. The medical humanities, which include art, music, literature, drama, writing, philosophy, history, and more, can enrich our lives in medicine, increase our ability to observe, help us understand perspectives other than our own, shed light on community concerns, expose our assumptions, and provide a means for grappling with the inherent uncertainty in medicine.
But they can—and should—do more than that. Here at Yale, we strive to use the medical humanities as a springboard to raise the critical consciousness of our community. Through a wide variety of opportunities, both curricular and extracurricular, we strive to stimulate thought and discussion about the narratives we tell about our patients, ourselves, and the systems we work in, the traditions we have inherited, the role we play in questions of justice, and what futures we imagine for ourselves as a profession.
We collaborate on many programs with faculty and students from Yale’s other schools and institutions including the School of Nursing, School of Art, British Art Center, Yale University Art Gallery, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Yale College.