Global Engagement

a.     Introduction to Global Health (HUMBIO 29)

b.     A Seminar in Global Surgery (SURG 236) focusing on the role of surgery and anesthesia in global health

c.     A well-developed program of education in general and applied anatomy and physiology delivered by the Division of Clinical Anatomy using flipped classroom techniques and augmented reality. Read about how the program was deployed in Kenya.

d.      Stanford Medicine hosts several competitive and skills-based Master's programs that may be of particular interest to academic surgeons:

Biomedical informatics: an interdisciplinary field that combines ideas from computer science and quantitative disciplines (statistics, data science, decision science) to solving challenging problems in biology and medicine. 

Epidemiology and Clinical Research: provides students with the skills essential to population-based study and patient-oriented clinical research, including epidemiologic methods and statistical analysis. 

Health Policy: provides students with the skills to conduct and interpret research in health policy and clinical decision-making. The criteria of enrollment and acceptance is determined by the programs. 

Please note that the Department of Surgery does not provide funding for these Master’s programs through Global Engagement.

e.      Faculty engagement in international surgical societies including COSECSA

For Residents:

The Division of General Surgery offers an ACGME-approved rotation during the third year of residency at the University of Harare in Zimbabwe. Expansive training and skills curricula that address and are sensitive to global surgical needs, resources, and capacities, including a dedicated rotation in Ob/Gyn for general surgery trainees

Plastic Surgery residents may apply for the Donald R. Laub Fellowship during their professional development time, which entails one year of intensive work in clinical research, advocacy, and organization to further Global Reconstructive Surgery. Previous Laub Fellows have traveled to Vietnam, Bhutan, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nepal, and India

The Division of Vascular Surgery offers an ACGME-approved residency rotation in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada at McMaster University during the PGY-4. There are also opportunities for residents to rotate at San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy (PGY-5) and for fellows to rotate in Changsa, PRC.

Through formalized partnerships with renown NGOs ReSurge International (focused on global reconstructive surgery) and Lifebox (focused on improving surgical and anesthetic safety and teamwork), residents can gain experience in systems improvement, quality improvement, advocacy, and scholarship that is locally and globally relevant.

Funding is available through the (Independent Away Program) to Stanford residents who have made their arrangements for international rotations. For more information, please visit: https://globalhealth.stanford.edu/programs/stanford-global-scholars-program/  

Fellowships:

a.      A second year humanitarian surgery fellowship for Surgical Critical Care fellows.

b.      Acute Care Surgery (ACS) Postdoctoral Fellowship: The Division of General Surgery, Section of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine is seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual (post-residency or inter-residency) to join the section as a full-time Acute Care Surgery (ACS) Postdoctoral Researcher.  

For Faculty:

Dr. Sherry Wren hosts an annual International Humanitarian Surgical Skills Course. The two-day intensive is designed to teach pshycicians how to practice in low resource settings. Originally produced for surgeons, Wren now teaches medical practitioners from a variety of specialties and subspecialties including family medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN, internal medicine, anesthesia. The course is also open to nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants.

Improving quality and safety is a critical priority, and implementation science approaches can help inform scalable knowledge transfer using performance feedback, improved management practices, and the introduction of interventions that promote best practices.

The program of Global Engagement is also committed to developing a research program that promotes surgical system strengthening as well as research training in partner facilities. Such collaborations will focus on implementation, quality improvement, education and training, and clinical studies and trial design. Studies include clinical, translational, and basic science work aimed at building local capacity for research, while education and training focuses on both technical and pedagogic skills as well as research skills, statistics, methodology, and basic science capacity.

S-SPIRE and its health services research experts organize a formal “boot camp” for Stanford professional development residents that includes basic statistics, epidemiology, presentation techniques, searching and using the peer reviewed literature and can support global surgical research focusing on clinical, translational, and population health issues. The Center also runs "Work In Progress" sessions to refine research aims, describe novel research methods, and promote cross-disciplinary knowledge. For those working on research projects within the center, a consultation program facilitates improved data collection, analysis, and methodologic approaches to health services research.

• Stanford's Byers Center for Biodesign is one of the preeminent programs in the world focusing on technical needs-based solutions for challenging clinical problems in healthcare. There is opportunity for development and innovation of low resource medical devices and technology.

The Biodesign Innovation Fellowship is a 10-month experience that equips aspiring innovators with a proven, repeatable process to identify important healthcare needs, invent novel health technologies to address them, and prepare to implement those products into patient care through start-up, corporate channels, or other channels. In addition, the Innovation Fellows become part of the Stanford Biodesign community, which is a life-long, worldwide network of innovators passionate about improving healthcare. Watch the video

• The d.school and its Design for Extreme Affordability has previously partnered with Lifebox and deployed teams to Ethiopia to identify needs and challenges through a human-centered design process. Learn more.