Global REACH
Research, Education and Collaboration in Health

Humanitarian and activist Paul Farmer, MD, came to UM. Click to select video footage of his appearances.

Global REACH in the News

UM is one of the world's Most Global Universities, according to Newsweek.

As never before in their long history, universities have become instruments of national competition as well as instruments of peace. They are the locus of the scientific discoveries that move economies forward, and the primary means of educating the talent required to obtain and maintain competitive advantage. But at the same time, the opening of national borders to the flow of goods, services, information and especially people has made universities a powerful force for global integration, mutual understanding and geopolitical stability.

Students travel to Ecuador to aid community:
‘Quito Project’ aims to help poverty-stricken town with medical care and aid

In Chillogallo, a village of less than 4,000 located in Quito, Ecuador, sickness, alcoholism and hunger prosper.

Children are poorly educated, malnourished and often abused, and parents struggle to make a decent living. Families are forced to live in dirt-covered homes with only one room.

This is the picture University physicians and students were faced with and ultimately motivated by when they arrived in Quito this summer to begin a three-month-long volunteer project.

The Quito Project — led by second-year Medical student Bina Valsangkar — sent 18 University students and two University physicians to Quito, to provide medical treatment, tutor children and construct community facilities.

Click on the link above to read more.

Global REACH is featured by Medicine at Michigan!

In the last four years, University of Michigan medical students have opened clinics in the Dominican Republic, performed surgery in Honduras, worked with HIV/AIDS victims in Thailand and Ghana, and immersed themselves in the Cuban health care system. They’ve also led teams overseas that have included undergraduates, students in engineering, public health, and social work, as well as physicians and faculty members, in an attempt to address the cultural and societal issues that have an impact on health care.

Why are they so involved in international experiences? Because they believe it will make them better physicians, and the world a better place.

This is no mere starry-eyed notion. The burgeoning number of U-M Medical School students who have organized and participated in overseas projects universally describe those experiences as transformative, and the school itself is recognizing and supporting their efforts through the Student Alliance for Global REACH, launched last fall as the institutional response to a growing and increasingly visible trend. Call it the “trickle up” effect.

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Grants Awarded

Faculty seed grants: In June, Global REACH, in conjunction with Ray Ruddon, Senior Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, awarded three $10,000 grants for UMMS faculty to pursue international research, education, or collaboration efforts.

Last year we received 23 proposals from 11 departments and 16 countries. This year we received 40 applications from 25 departments and 28 countries. The awardees for 2005 are:

	Cory Hogaboam, Ph.D. Pathology Brazil: “Targeting IL-4 and II-13 Responsive Cells in Pulmonary Silicosis.”
	John Piette, Ph.D. Internal Medicine-General Medicine Chile: “Developing and Evaluating Telephone Care Models for Diabetes Patients in Chile.”
	Guohua Xi, M.D. Neurosurgery China: “Iron overload, brain edema and atrophy after intra-cerebral hemorrhage in Humans.”

The grants were made possible through the Dean's Office.

The objectives of faculty grants are to:
1. Establish relationships that will lead to future collaborative efforts in research or education;
2. Explore potential partnerships that will provide mutually beneficial outcomes for UMMS and the partner institution; and
3. Gather enough information to submit a larger grant within a year of the expiration of these planning grants

Last year our four investigators produced some very impressive results. The connections, data, and experiences gained from these grants (total amount = $40K -- $30K from the Global REACH budget and $10K from the China Medical Board) have yielded a return of $1.2 million in subsequent grant submissions to private and federal sources.

Global REACH Scholarships awarded to 34 University of Michigan medical students for $1000 each for international electives in their 4th year

Each year a small group of Michigan medical students arrange time to spend part of their final medical school year abroad – experiencing healthcare in a different country – often in places where our high-technology medical care system is impossible with no running water and sporadic electricity. Since our students graduate with an average debt burden of over $100,000 each, such experiences in the past were affordable by only a few, often costing $1500 to $3500 per month away. Starting last year, the Dean’s office through Global REACH, provided 10 grants to students for international electives.

This year, Global REACH awarded 34 scholarships for financial assistance for one-month international rotations in 18 different countries. Total budget for these volunteer rotations is $94,300 and airfare and travel is approximately $43,400. This interest speaks volumes to the international interest and engagement of our medical students, and their commitment to issues of global health. Because of the strong support for these experiences from Dean Lichter and the Associate Deans, we are delighted to announce that all applicants with a complete proposal received $1000 grants of financial support for their international rotations this year.

The winners of the international elective awards are:

We want to thank the students for the contribution they are making to the world community by volunteering their time and skills to work around the globe. We are confident that even if these experiences do not lead to future international-oriented careers, these students will return to practice in Michigan as physicians with a greater view of their duty to our communities, and to those most in need.

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Presentations/Conferences

Unite For Sight Fifth Annual International Health & Development Conference
Building Global Health For Today and Tomorrow
April 12-13, 2008
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Register Today at http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference/2008

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Visits to UMMS

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Visits to other Countries

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