Dr. Girma Tefera gives an update on the Department’s growing Global Health program.
Our department has recently committed more resources to a vital area in the field of surgery – Global Health. Global health is a security issue, an economic issue, and an economic security issue. And surgery is increasingly being recognized as a crucial component of public health, as important, for example, as vaccines.
Moreover, we know that today’s university students are global learners: they’re more internationally connected than any generation before them. When they arrive to our department, they’re asking for opportunities to learn and become involved abroad. We must ensure they become engaged and that they become engaged in the right ways. As Vice Chair of Global Surgery, I hope to create a global health program that is beneficial to all levels of learners in the field. I want to provide a much wider laboratory for the next generation by facilitating global experiences for residents as well as for medical students who want to be surgeons. I want to cultivate curious eyes and minds, so residents can be innovators who create future solutions in our field.
Global Surgery is about much more than the operations residents perform abroad: our program participants learn things like better resource utilization, hands-on skills, and leadership skills. Junior faculty members use global experiences to develop their careers. And international immersion experiences also teach faculty members to become better educators and collaborators. This reciprocity of learning across national and cultural borders is what the program is all about. The Department of Surgery knows how much global experiences enrich and deepens the field of surgery and surgical practice in an international and intercultural world.
Learn more about the Layton Rikkers Surgical Society for alumni.