MGH/UGHE Clinical Academic Partnership

The MGH Center for Global Health has developed an academic partnership with the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE). The University of Global Health Equity is a global university based in rural northern Rwanda, founded by Partners in Health, which aims to transform global health delivery by reimagining medical education. Its mission is to build the next generation of global health professionals into leaders and changemakers, who will ensure quality health care reaches every individual, in every corner of the globe. UGHE focuses on community-based learning, the social determinants of health, and innovations in implementation science to give students the tools needed to repair inequitable health systems. UGHE’s academic programs are built on the principles of gender equity, social justice, and the concept of One Health, focusing on the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health.

Amongst other programs, the university is training medical students as part of a MBBS program and is looking for visiting faculty on their clinical clerkships. There is an exciting opportunity for MGH to contribute to UGHE by coming to Rwanda as a Visiting Faculty.

For more information, please see the UGHE Guide for Visiting Clinical Faculty.

“I’m proud to participate in the Visiting Faculty Program at UGHE. UGHE is an incredible organization dedicated to health equity and training the next generation of African healthcare practitioners and leaders, and it is an honor as an MGH faculty member to teach and learn from UGHE students. One special aspect of the relationship between MGH and UGHE is our ability to respond to particular curriculum needs in Rwanda.”

-Esther Freeman, MD, PhD

• Volunteer activity with airfare, accommodation, and meals covered
• Two-week time commitment is required (timing of visits will be determined by UGHE needs and curriculum schedule)

For additional information, please contact CGH Program Manager, Juliana Hoke.

Dr. Anne Kao, MD, MPH served as a Visiting Faculty at UGHE in May 2024

Co-Director of the Pediatric Hospitalist Division at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Anne Kao, MD, MPH, reports back from her time as a Visiting Faculty at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda:

“I spent the week at the Rwanda Military Hospital, along with my colleague and fellow Pediatric Hospitalist Kerstin Zanger, to teach the first class of graduating medical students from the University of Global Health Equity. It was also the school’s first class going through a senior pediatric clerkship. The schedule of morning report, rounds, sim, didactics, case review and case presentations were very familiar to me, given the rhythms of academic medicine here at MGH. The students were incredibly bright, inquisitive and eager to learn. The level of discourse and discussion with these curious and capable students was certainly equivalent to that which I experience here at MGH with our learners. 

“I am eager to return and strengthen the relationship between UGHE and the MGfC Pediatric Hospitalist Division in order to continue to provide faculty as well as curriculum (Dr. Zanger and I helped create several didactic case-based learning topics as well as OSCEs for the students) to further the training missions of UGHE as well as MGfC.”

Dr. Onyinyechi Eke served as visiting faculty at UGHE in March 2024

Director of Global Ultrasound in the Department of Emergency Medicine at MGH Onyinyechi Eke, MD, MPH, reports back from her time as visiting faculty at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda:

“As visiting faculty at University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) Butaro in March 2024, I taught point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to the UGHE medical students. This included an Introduction to POCUS for MBBS29, as part of the Introduction to the Practice of Medicine (IPM) curriculum for the MBBS28 and evaluating the POCUS skills of the senior internal medicine and surgery MBBS25 students. Each teaching session included didactic lectures followed by a practical hands-on session with standardized patients. I also served as faculty for the IPM OSCE for the MBBS28 students and organized the first Sonogames competition at UGHE, in conjunction with UGHE students, faculty and PIH clinicians.

“After teaching didactic and hands-on sessions, we went to Butaro Hospital with the MBBS28 students to the bedside. It was satisfying and rewarding to see the immediate impact of the POCUS teaching: students and the clinicians were using POCUS to make medical diagnoses and facilitate clinical-decision making.”

Dr. Lena Dohlman served as visiting faculty at UGHE in February 2024

Lena Dohlman, MD, MPH,  spent a week as an enthusiastic visiting faculty to help teach at the inaugural Anesthesia Bootcamp for 36 medical students. The course details were organized by Dr. Callum Forbes, who is a Paul Farmer global surgery research fellow with the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change. Dr. Forbes was fortunate to have recruited several anesthesiologists from within Rwanda to participate in the teaching. There remains a critical shortage of physician anesthesiologist educators in Rwanda – well below the widely recommended minimum of 4-5 /100,000. The Anesthesia Bootcamp at UGHE was initiated as another piece to the puzzle of improving anesthesia safety and to help build capacity. The days were divided into didactics in the morning focused on safety basics in the operating room and ICU and skills stations and simulation in the afternoon. Dr. Dohlman looks forward to learning the outcome of their admittedly small contribution to building anesthesia capacity and safety in Rwanda.