Beyond the Biologic Basis of Disease: The Social and Economic Causation of Illness
AN INTENSIVE COURSE MERGING THE TOPICS OF SOCIAL AND TROPICAL MEDICINE IS NOW BEING OFFERED BY PHYSICIANS FOR HAITI
Physicians for Haiti is now accepting applications from medical students of all levels for our first annual Social Medicine Course, “Beyond the Biologic Basis of Disease: The Social and Economic Causation of Illness” in Haiti.
This course is offered by Physicians for Haiti in collaboration with SocMed, an organization that advocates for and implements global health curricula founded on the study of social medicine. P4H is excited to expand upon SocMed’s well-established curriculum to focus on the specific situation in Haiti. The course will aim to facilitate students’ understanding of their role in global health and social medicine, developing the knowledge and perspective to become the next generation of leaders in the global health arena.
Course Overview
July 2013 will mark the launch of the inaugural “Beyond the Biological Basis for Disease” course in Haiti. This annual three-week course, which is designed for medical students of all levels, links tropical medicine with social medicine teaching. The course will be taught in French.
This is the first site expansion of an existing course that has been offered for the past three years in Gulu, Uganda by SocMed. Physicians for Haiti is proud to be the implementing parter for the course in Haiti.
20 medical students will participate in the course, ten from the University of the Aristide Foundation (UniFA) and the other ten from around the world. UniFA will host the course at its campus in Port-Au-Prince, and students participating in the course will have the opportunity to visit other sites around Haiti.
The course merges a number of unique pedagogical approaches including field visits, classroom- based presentations and discussions, group reflections, student presentations, films, and bedside teaching. These approaches are utilized to create an innovative, interactive learning environment in which students participate as both learners and teachers. We hope to advance the entire class’ understanding of the interactions between the biology of disease and the social, cultural, economic, political, and historical factors that influence illness presentation and social experience.
The course curriculum places great importance on building partnerships and encouraging students to reflect upon their personal experiences with power, privilege, race, class, gender, and sexual orientation as central to effective partnership building in global health. In the spirit of praxis (a model of education that combines critical reflection with action) these components of the course give students the opportunity to discern their role in global health and social medicine through facilitated, in-depth conversations with core faculty and student colleagues.
Course Objectives
1. To promote international solidarity and partnership for generating solutions to global health challenges facing societies throughout the world
2. To foster reflective dialogue between Haitian and international medical students as a means of strengthening ties between the next generation of Haitian health professionals and a global network of their peers.
3. To provide a structured global health experience for medical students with dedicated supervision and teaching in clinical medicine and social medicine
4. To study issues related to global health in a resource-poor setting with an emphasis on local and global context
5. To foster critical analysis of global health interventions in resource-poor settings
6. To facilitate the development of a clinical approach to disease and illness using a biosocial model through structured supervision and teaching
7. To build an understanding and skill set associated with physician advocacy
Course Curriculum
The course structure brings together teaching in both tropical medicine and social medicine. The social medicine component is divided into the following parts:
Part 1 – Determinants of Health Beyond Biology: Social and Economic Causation of Disease
Part 2 – Global Health Interventions: Paradigms of Charity, Humanitarianism, and Structural Change
Part 3 – Social Justice in Health Interventions: Models of Community-based Healthcare
Part 4 – Health and Human Rights and the Healthcare Worker as Advocate
Part 5 – Tools for Effective Application of Global Health Experience: Writing, Photography, Research, and Political Engagement
Clinical topics will include cholera, malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and other relevant diseases implicated in social determinants of health.
Course Faculty
A group of course leaders from both the U.S. and Haiti with expertise in tropical medicine and public health make up the core faculty, and will teach the courses in French.
Course Advisors
- Amy Finnegan, PhD – Sociologist and professor at the University of Minnesota-Rochester. Dr. Finnegan’s PhD work at Boston College focused on social movements, and she holds an MA from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
- Michael Westerhaus, MD, MA – Internal medicine physician and member of the Global Health Faculty at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Westerhaus also holds an MA in medical anthropology from Harvard University.
In addition, numerous experts involved with local health initiatives visit the course, deliver presentations, and facilitate conversations.
Cost
It is estimated that an average U.S. student’s cost for the 2013 course will be:
- Airfare (average in recent years): $600
- Full Room/Board for 3 weeks: $ 925
- Course Fee: $ 675
- Total: $ 2200
This estimate does not include vaccination costs, spending money for gifts and other small personal expenses, or any additional travel in Haiti not associated with the course that students may wish to do.
Limited financial aid may be available to cover a portion of the course fees for those with demonstrated financial need. If interested in being considered for this scholarship, please make note when you submit your application and an additional form will be sent for you to complete.
Eligibility criteria for applicants:
- Medical student of any year
- Fluent in French
- Available for the entire length of the course (July 8-26, 2013)
To Apply:
Please complete the application in English or French. Additionally, please send your CV to cfox@physiciansforhaiti.org. Application deadline: February 1st, 2013.
Questions?
Please contact Rebecca Joachim (rjoachim@physiciansforhaiti.org) or Patricia Mathelier (pmathelier@physiciansforhaiti.org) with any questions.