Building a Global Health Education Program in an Urban School of Medicine

Abstract

This chapter describes the development of a multidisciplinary global health program in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Key features were (1) a deliberate early decision to focus scarce resources on education in global health; (2) creation of a three-tiered educational program that offered introductory training in global health to all medical students, in-depth education to students interested in global health careers, and postgraduate education in global health tracks to selected residents in Medicine, Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry; (3) the creation of a strong global health track in the MPH program; and (4) creation of a post-residency teaching fellowship in global health. Two external factors strongly assisted program growth: (1) consistent fiscal and intellectual support from the Dean of the Medical School and the Dean for Medical Education which culminated in the introduction of a stand-alone course in global health to the mandatory core curriculum of the medical school, and (2) the building of a strong base of philanthropic support with support from the Medical School’s office of Development that culminated in formation of the recently endowed Arnhold Global Health Institute at Mount Sinai. Program evaluation and continuous improvement were essential at every stage.