Infectious Diseases Global Health Opportunities

Global Health, Tropical and Travel Medicine Training

With more than 1 billion international boundary crossings per year, and more than 13% of the population being born outside the United States, all infectious disease clinicians must have a basic understanding of clinical tropical and travel medicine.

Infectious Diseases Global Health Opportunities

All Fellows

• Access to on-line course, “Tropical and Travel Medicine Course for Infectious Disease Specialists”, which consists of more than 120 hours of training in tropical and travel medicine: Travel and Tropical Medicine for the Infectious Diseases Specialist 

• 3-day hands-on parasitology course (part of the Minnesota-Based Global Health Course)

• Interactive didactic sessions with faculty to cover clinical problem solving in clinical tropical and travel medicine

• Monthly tropical and travel medicine seminars are available: Global Medicine  

• Opportunity to apply to spend a month with AMPATH Kenya (see additional information below)

• UMMC, VA, and Hennepin County travel clinic experiences

• Ability to do research with international leaders in global health. This could be a main fellowship project or a smaller additional project. 

Fellows Supported by the T32 Training Grant or Equivalent

• Ability to complete prolonged research project at our site in Uganda

• Continuity clinic experience in Uganda

• International work is also available in other locations, including Laos

• Have the opportunity to complete the UMN Global Medicine Course/Curriculum which qualifies the participant to take the ASTMH examination for a CTropMed certification and/or the European based Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H).  The UMN Global Health Course is completed online (self-paced) in addition to one 2-week in-person hands on course (offered in Minnesota, Thailand/Cambodia, Uganda and northern Italy).

TropEd Network

The University of Minnesota is the only accredited US program that is part of the tropEd network. The tropEd network comprises a community of institutions from around the globe that offer postgraduate education in International and Global Health. Fellows who complete the Global Health Course are eligible to complete the remainder of a graduate degree at an international institution after graduation. 

tropEd Network 

AMPATH Kenya

The UMN Department of Medicine, led by the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine (IDIM), has joined AMPATH .  AMPATH is a unique academic-public partnership, with priorities led by the host country, supporting health sector development through clinical care, research and policy. The initial focus of the UMN involvement is in the area of infectious diseases at the  AMPATH-Kenya site.  AMPATH-Kenya has >30 year engagement working closely with the regional hospital (MTRH), the Kenya National and regional government, Moi Medical School (2nd largest in Kenya) and has increased academic partners to ~20 North American and European Universities. The encatchment area of AMPATH-Kenya includes 17 counties in Western Kenya covering approximately 25 million people (40% of the Kenya population).

This relationship opens opportunities for volunteer clinical work, bedside & other teaching, policy development and research.  All fellows have the opportunity to apply to spend an elective month with AMPATH Kenya, and we have the ability to send at least one fellow per year.