Stanford-based Programs
Clerkships
Internships and Service-Learning Programs
Stanford-affiliated Clerkships
Clerkship and Early Clinical Experience in International Health - Guatemala
Paul Wise, MD, MPH; Professor of Pediatrics
Location: Guatemala
Times: summer, fall
Participation: medical students
Dr. Paul Wise directs a clerkship and early clinical experience program in international community health in the town of San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala. The clerkship couples direct clinical experience with a broader exposure to the social determinants of health and the provision of medical care in resource-poor areas of the world. Students work in a small hospital and in mobile clinics, and may encountered patients with infectious diseases, chronic disorders, or in emergency situations. In addition, students participate in an array of community development activities and have opportunities to explore the local customs and history of the area.
International Clerkship in Family and Community Medicine
Sam Le Baron , MD, PhD; Professor of Family and Community Medicine
Location: Mexico, South Africa, India, China, and Tibet
Times: Periods 1-12 available, full-time for 4-8 weeks
Participation: medical students, open to visitors
This clerkship includes clinical, academic, and experiential components. The clinical component provides students an opportunity to interact with physicians, community leaders, health care workers, and patients in international settings. Students will spend some time in one or more primary care clinics under the supervision of a medical preceptor, developing and practicing clinical skills, conducting health screening, and patient interviews. Participants are also encouraged to gain knowledge of local institutions, including medical schools, health departments, and local community governments. In some sites students will have an opportunity to learn to effectively communicate health care issues in an appropriate manner in the local language. The clerkships in Mexico and South Africa are cosponsored in partnership with International Alliance in Service and Education (IASE). The clerkships in India, China and Tibet are cosponsored in partnership with Volunteers in Asia (VIA) and organizations in the respective country.
See also Early Clinical Experience in International Family & Community Medicine (INDE 284) - open to preclinical medical students (and undergraduates by special arrangement)
International Alliance in Service & Education (IASE) Clerkships
Christine Gabaldi, Ed.D; Founder and President, IASE;
Lecturer, Center for Education in Family and Community Medicine
Location: South Africa and Mexico
Times: January-May, Mid-July-November
Participation: medical students
Both clerkships focus on health and education in the area of primary care, public health, community-based research projects, mental and chronic disease management, nutrition, tropical and infectious diseases, and topics and services that are relevant and identified by the local community.
Stanford-affiliated Internships and Service-Learning Programs
Child Family Health International (CFHI)
Evaleen Jones, MD, MPH; Founder and Medical Director, CFHI;
Clinical Assistant Professor, Stanford Family and Community Medicine
Location: Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, South Africa
Times: summer, fall, winter, spring
Participation: undergraduates, medical students, residents, and health professionals
Child Family Health International’s (CFHI) Global Health Service-Learning Programs combine instruction, experience, service, and reflection to create a model that supports physicians and clinical sites abroad, addresses the healthcare needs of the underserved, and adds an unforgettable experiential element to each program participant’s education.
CFHI programs bring service-learning into hospitals and clinics around the world, allowing participants to gain insight on the contextual constructs of illness and healing in foreign settings. Program Alumni return from the host country with new perspectives on healthcare systems and delivery in places where resources and supplies are extremely limited.
Hospital de La Familia
Andrew Patterson, MD, PhD; Assistant Professor of Anesthesia, Stanford SoM
Location: Nuevo Progreso, Guatemala
Time: varies
Participation: undergraduates, medical students, residents
Dr. Andrew Patterson volunteers as a team leader for groups of undergraduates, medical students and residents on trips to rural Guatemala to provide health care for underprivileged children and adults.
India Clinical Internship (formerly NCI)
BinBin Jiang; Graduate student, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Location: India
Times: summer
Participation: Undergraduates, graduates, medical students
ICI is a Stanford-based student organization that offers undergraduate, graduate and medical students the opportunity to undertake clinical internships in Nepal and India. (Note: The Nepal Clinical Internship has been discontinued due to political unrest and travel warnings.)
Interplast
Andrew Patterson, MD, PhD; Assistant Professor of Anesthesia, Stanford SoM
Location: Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, Rwanda
Time: varies
Participation: undergraduates, medical students, residents
Dr. Andrew Patterson volunteers to lead groups of undergraduates, medical students and residents on Interplast trips to various Central and South American countries to provide free reconstructive surgery for underprivileged children and adults.
Medical Missions for Children
Andrew Patterson, MD, PhD; Assistant Professor of Anesthesia, Stanford SoM
Location: Southern Peru
Time: varies
Participation: undergraduates, medical students, residents
Dr. Andrew Patterson volunteers to lead groups of undergraduates, medical students and residents on trips to Southern Peru to provide health care for underprivileged children.
Roatan Clinical and Public Health Internship
Jennifer Miller; Director of R.C.P.H.I.
Location: Honduras
Time: summer, fall, winter
Participation: undergraduates, graduates, medical students.
Through one-month to three-month internships, R.C.P.H.I. interns will have the opportunity to learn about pediatric medicine while working alongside American and Honduran doctors, residents, medical students, nurses, and other health care workers. Students can also intern in an HIV outreach clinic, volunteering in private family medicine clinics run by Honduran physicians and missionaries, or carrying out their own individual public health projects or research.
Stanford Papua New Guinea Medical Project
Kelly Murphy, MD, Surgery - Emergency Medicine
Location: Papua New Guinea
Time: summer
Participation: undergraduates, graduates, medical students, doctors
Through the collaboration of Stanford University students and faculty with the indigenous people of the Sepik River Basin, the project hopes to establish a system of health care stations along the Sepik River. Volunteers live among the people, and stock and manage the clinics. While the project falls into the realm of preventative medicine, it provides interested students with a course curriculum at Stanford, focusing on tropical medicine and international healthcare. Such information is valuable in training of village health aids in Papua New Guinea to care for their own communities.
Students for International Change (SIC) Tanzania
Laura Hyde, Claire Nordeen, and Simran Bindra - Stanford coordinators
Location: Tanzania
Time: spring, summer, fall
Participation: undergraduates, graduates, medical students, doctors
SIC is a non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to limiting the impact of HIV/AIDS in northern Tanzania and to providing high-quality service-learning opportunities for future leaders in international health. Volunteers teach classes about HIV prevention in schools and communities around the town of Arusha. They also offer a free, mobile HIV testing and counseling service and provide home-based care and support to AIDS patients and their families.
Unite for Sight
Jennifer Staple, Founder, President, CEO, Unite for Sight; Stanford Medical Student
Peter Egbert, MD; Professor of Opthalmology, Stanford School of Medicine; Unite For Sight Medical Advisory Board Member
Location: Ghana, India, Thailand, and Stanford
Time: spring, summer, fall, winter
Participation: undergraduates, medical students, residents, and health professionals
Unite For Sight is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness. Volunteer Teams work with partner eye clinics in developing countries to provide eye care and eye health education programs. Additionally, vision screening and education programs are implemented worldwide by volunteers working in ninety chapters established at universities and in communities. The Stanford Chapter of Unite for Sight provides screenings and education programs in the Bay Area and also supports its students engaging in both service-learning and research abroad.
World MD Vietnam Medical Project
Kelly Murphy, MD, Surgery - Emergency Medicine
Location: Ninh Binh Province (Northern Vietnam) and Quang Nam (Central Vietnam)
Time: 3 weeks during summer, varying with teams
Participation: undergraduates, graduates, medical students, doctors.
The mission of the project is to “build a long and committed relationship with the communities in this area through small, reproducible health care delivery programs and medical education. The ultimate mission is to create an independent healthcare system, which is fully staffed, supported, and sustained by the local villages without outside influence or direction." Student volunteers (undergrads and medical students) are trained on how to recognize symptoms for illnesses commonly found in Vietnam and how to perform physical examinations. Once stationed, teams of 12 members staff the clinics and train local medics.
