Programs for Residents

Residency Global Health Track

Background

The Department of Anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medical College is dedicated to developing the careers of anesthesiologists committed to academic global health work. The goal of the residency Global Health Track is to provide a select group of residents an advanced foundation and knowledge in global health and global anesthesia. The mechanism for this is to provide a dedicated curriculum during residency for specialty education, mentorship, and a scholarly pursuit project in global health.

Goals/Objectives

• Advance education in the field of global anesthesia and foster globally conscious physicians
• Personal development in the spheres of service-oriented action, humanitarian contribution, and outreach to underprivileged individuals and societies
• Development of leadership abilities, team-building skills, and engagement with a global community of patients
• Cultural immersion and an appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism
• Facilitate participation in a global health scholarly pursuit

Program Structure

The Global Health Track involves six weeks of extracurricular mentored training and education in global health during the CA-2 year. During the CA-3 year, the selected resident will either travel to India in the Spring or Fall Global Health Elective as one of four resident participants, travel to another programmatically developed global health site, or travel to an alternative global health site that is approved by the department; a global health scholarly pursuit project is to be completed in the CA-3 year; if the global health scholarly pursuit warrants, there is a possibility of receiving research time in the CA-3 year.

Expectations of the Global Health Track resident include:

1. Satisfactory completion of the 6-week extracurricular training course, including a passing score on the Global Health exam;
2. The submission of a scholarly pursuit proposal early in the CA-2 year;
3. Travel to a global health elective site with completion of an academic project that can be related to or unrelated to their overall scholarly pursuit;
4. Completion of a scholarly pursuit project at the end of the CA-3 academic time with at least one poster or presentation at a national meeting in anesthesiology or global health, and ideally leading to submission of a manuscript.

Progress to each stage in the Global Health Track is contingent upon satisfactory progress in the preceding stage. 

Application Procedure and Eligible Candidates

Resident physicians interested in the residency Global Health Track position should submit an application by May 1st of their CA-1 academic year. A completed application should be submitted to Dr. Sheida Tabaie at stb9054@med.cornell.edu, and includes:

• a personal statement of no more than one single-spaced page describing program interest
• a curriculum vitae

Selection will be based on these items as well as on demonstrated interest in pursuing global health research. Only residents in good standing in the Residency Program based on Clinical Competence Committee evaluation, ITE scores, and faculty evaluations will be eligible and considered for the position.

Entry into the Global Health Track position begins July 1 of the CA-2 academic year. Prospective applicants who wish to discuss their scholarly pursuit interests for the residency Global Health Track position should contact Dr. Sheida Tabaie at stb9054@med.cornell.edu.

Financial Support

Support for national meeting attendance will be available to those who are presenting their original research as a first author at the ASA or AUA.

Dr. Pamela Wendel and Dr. Jonathan Groden visit the village of Sangrur with Inderjit Jaijee.

Residency Elective Abroad

Our flagship residency program takes place in Punjab, India, and engages Cornell Anesthesia residents, fellows and faculty in international health issues, both as physicians and as globally conscious individuals. Our Global Health Elective in India is a Graduate Medical Education (GME) approved rotation. Additionally, the American Board of Anesthesiology grants credit while on the rotation toward the 36-month continuum of training in anesthesiology. Therefore, participating resident physicians do not need to use vacation time to participate in this elective. Further, the elective is funded in its entirety by the Department of Anesthesiology.

Clinical Overview

The clinical rotation in Punjab takes place at both the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, an academic institution, as well as Amandeep Hospital, a trauma center. During the mornings, faculty and residents actively participate in the medical care of patients. This includes but is not limited to intubations, placement of central lines, and participation in neuraxial and peripheral nerve blocks. Participants have an opportunity to spend time in the PACU and ICUs, and to participate in daily bi-directional teaching with our colleagues in India. Interesting anesthetic management of patients includes maintenance with halothane, anesthesia without opiates, laparoscopy under neuraxial techniques, peripheral nerve blocks without ultrasound, and difficult airways including patients with cleft palates and severe burn contractures. 

Global Health Overview

The global health training portion of the elective is robust. Major programmatic focus areas include agriculture, the environment, human rights, gender studies, and development economics. Each of these areas is inextricably intertwined with health issues and only by understanding the economic, environmental, social and political milieu in which one is working will participation be responsible. 

Educational sessions include visits to the largest government-run drug rehabilitation center in the state, a meeting with current employees of a human rights organization, and a day with a sociologist who founded a school for children of drug addicts. Participants spend a weekend in a rural Punjabi village with a social justice activist who leads a non-profit organization that educates children impacted by farmer suicide. This multifaceted approach to global health education allows physicians to achieve a holistic understanding of problems in developing nations.

Course Syllabus

The course syllabus includes topics such as human rights, land and water access, and health impact of environmental damage. Residents and faculty mentors engage with the syllabus in reading groups over the four to six weeks prior to the abroad elective. A sample week of the curriculum follows: 

Week One: Medical Anthropology and a Biosocial Approach

1. Paul Farmer, Jim Kim, Arthur Kleinman, Matthew Basilico. Reimagining Global Health. University of California Press, 2013. Preface and Introduction. 
   
2. Feierman S, Kleinman A, Steward K, Farmer P, Sas V. "Anthropology, Knowledge Flows, and Global Health." Global Public Health. 5(2): 122-128, 2010. 
3. Helene Cooper. "Ebola's Cultural Casualty: Hugs in Hands-on Liberia." The New York Times. October 4, 2014.