Fourth-year medical students at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. may enroll in either/both the Global Health Elective, for which students receive funding and credit towards their elective requirement, and in the Advanced Competency in Global Health, which meets the Advanced Competency Elective credit required by the College of Medicine.
Before completing an application, please review the information below.
Application Process Overview: A step-by-step guide for planning and applying for a Global Health Elective.
Global Health Elective Criteria and Requirements: Detailed information on GHE objectives, pre- and post-departure and requirements, etc.
Global Health Training Programs: A list of organizations that provide student placement for global health experiences at international sites
Global Health Elective Report Guidelines: Each student participating in a GHE is required to submit a report of their experience.
Global Health Elective Application and Forms
- Host Approval Template
- Student Checklist
- Preceptor Evaluation Form
Current Travel Warnings
Electives will not be approved for countries listed on the "current travel warnings" issued by the U.S. Department of State. Travel to the country must also be safe as determined by the OGH.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Ideally this should begin at least eight months ahead of time (more if possible).
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Funding is dispersed upon completion of all of the pre-travel requirements. Student Financial Services says you should expect to see your award within 10 business days from the date that the OGH requests the deposit.
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You may do a GHE during rotations 1-12 except for rotation 11. Rotation 11 is not available for a GHE. The dates to do a GHE during rotation 12 have been adjusted from the standard COM schedule to account for Match Day.
If you are going during rotation 11, contact your residency program as soon as you know where you matched to let them know you will be out of the country and internet access will likely be spotty. It will be important to find out if they need anything from you in the next month because you may not be able to do it while you are abroad. You might want to consider setting up a power of attorney for any documents that must be signed or completed in your absence.
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One way is by working with the OGH to arrange an elective at one of our affiliated institutions. The second is to work with an organization that arranges elective programs for medical students; The third way is arranging for an elective through a personal contact, e.g., a family friend is a physician in India.
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A Global Health Elective should be about 150 hours over four weeks.
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The country selected must not be listed on the “current travel warnings” issued by the U.S. Department of State. Travel to the country must be safe as determined by the OIA who have final approval on safety issues.
The host site must be in a developing nation (lower, lower middle, or upper middle income). The World Bank provides a list of qualifying countries; however each site will be evaluated individually and presence on this list does not guarantee approval.
We do not give a "blanket" approval for any country, even if it is classified as a developing country. For example, a private, well-equipped hospital for serving middle class and higher (high-resource environment in a low-resource country) would not be approved.
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You must first schedule a meeting with the program manager to discuss your plans or seek assistance in where to go. You can apply at that time with your host acceptance.
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Yes, as long as it meets the criteria and requirements for a GHE. Please submit as much information to the program coordinator as possible so that we can decide if the site meets our criteria.
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- Complete USAID modules
- Schedule pre-departure meeting
- Submit an OIA application (to provide Supplemental Health Insurance)
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Each application/rotation will be evaluated individually and just because a rotation was approved in a previous year does not mean it will be approved in the future. Always check with the OGH if you have questions.
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Any language training component must be outside of the 150 hours/four weeks clinical work requirement. Rotations solely or predominantly for the purpose of language training/immersion are not eligible for funding and credit.
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The GHE will be added to your schedule after your application has been approved.
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The GHE will be added to your schedule after your application has been approved. You can either leave that spot on your schedule blank or add a rotation that can be dropped prior to adding the GHE.