Transcending Borders To Enhance Global Health
Through the Global Health program, the Department is building strong partnerships in LIC including Uganda, Guyana and Namibia, and now also in Afghanistan, Syria, Tanzania, Kenya, and Tajikistan.
The Department of Medicine is dedicated to building healthcare capacity in low income countries (LIC). Through the Global Health program, the Department is building strong partnerships in LIC including Uganda, Guyana and Namibia, and now also in Afghanistan, Syria, Tanzania, Kenya, and Tajikistan.
The Global Health Program’s major objectives are to build relationships with developing countries by:
- Facilitating teaching in less advantaged areas through virtual health educational sessions to learners and peers in a multidisciplinary, interactive manner.
- Facilitating educational exposures for learners of LIC via elective and longer duration experiences and then they return to their country with the ability to build capacity. This program runs in concert with the St. Joseph Healthcare International Outreach Program (IOP).
- Facilitating our learners experience in healthcare in less advantaged locations through elective experiences.
- Sharing medical resources such as the McMaster Textbook of Medicine and McMaster Continuing Health Education Courses/Conferences on a complimentary basis with LIC.
In Uganda, the Department’s Internal Medicine Residency training program is the first program to offer a global health elective experience to core residents in a developing country since 2004. Three residents are chosen annually on a competitive basis to gain experience in Uganda, as well as faculty members who go with the residents on a clinical and teaching capacity on a voluntary basis.
Through this partnership, internal medicine residents from Uganda undertake training at McMaster in their subspecialty of choice at least for one year, with the support of the St. Joseph’s International Outreach Program (IOP), among other collaborative research projects. The overall, goal is to build the capacity of local health care providers and enhance global knowledge sharing.
The Global Health partnership program in Uganda is led by Dr. Ally Prebtani, an Internist and Endocrinologist at McMaster University. He is a full Professor of Medicine with the Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Department of Medicine. He is also the founder and director of the Internal Medicine Global Health Program and the founder of the Endocrinology & Metabolism Residency Training Program where he was Program Director for ten years.
Dr. Ally Prebtani,
Dr. Prebtani is actively involved in voluntary and advocacy work both locally and abroad, professionally, and personally. In Uganda, he provides education & training and accompanies residents and faculty to the country. He is also involved in collaboration and fundraising for the local medical community. Some of the funding has also gone to providing infrastructure to a local elementary school in building toilets, the kitchen and the ground area to provide a safe and healthy environment. Recently, his team raised over $750,000 worth of medical equipment which was shipped to Uganda with the support of many donors locally and nationally.
Read more about the Global Health program here, and in the recent Annual Report.
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