Global Health

There are multiple approaches available to students who seek international learning opportunities.

  • Pursue the Advocacy/Global Health Pathway in the EXPLORE component of the Gateway Curriculum. Phase One offers optional noon-hour sessions focused on these themes, and Phase One’s required four-week EXPLORE immersion can be global health-focused. Optional Phase 2 global health facets include learning and networking opportunities, and project planning. Up to 16 weeks of EXPLORE elective time in Phase 3 may be done internationally–for example, carrying out Global Health-related scholarly work. Phase 3 offers Global Health electives and an option for an international rotation.

    The Global Health rotations in Phase 3 can take place at WashU’s 12 partner sites and 64 AAMC-approved global partners. Partner sites are currently in South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Germany, Lebanon, Ireland, Ghana, France, and Australia. The list of partner sites is expected to evolve as more partnerships are negotiated. Financial support in the form of grants is available in Phase 3 to spend elective time abroad. Preference is given for rotations with a health equity focus and to students seeking distinction in Global Health/Advocacy.
  • Collaborate with faculty members who have international connections and ongoing, longitudinal research projects (see a partial list of such faculty, below). Students could take a year-long research year (MD5) focused on global health. Grant funding is also available to students through the Dean’s office and the Global Health Explore Program.
  • Dual degree opportunities like the Masters in Public Health (MPH) are offered, if a medical student wishes to take an additional fifth year.
  • Identify learning, service, and networking opportunities through the student-run group Global Health & Medicine.
  • Design your own path!

Using these approaches, in past years, WUSM students have engaged and furthered their learning in the following countries: Australia, Belize, Bhutan, Chile, China, Egypt, England, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Malawi, Mexico, Morocco, N. China, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

WUSM Global Health & Medicine

WUSM Global Health & Medicine (formerly known as the Forum on International Health and Tropical Medicine), is a medical-student-run group that aims to enlighten the medical community about international health concerns both by getting out into the world and by bringing knowledge home. Through lecture series, faculty networking events, and speaker panels with global health researchers, this group provides medical students with the opportunity to create meaningful personal and professional connections in the field of global health. Several funding mechanisms through the Dean’s office exist to additionally support global health clinical and research rotations for students.

Members have the opportunity to attend the Global Health Annual Conference, held in conjunction with the Washington University Institute for Public Health. Students interested in long-term collaboration with the Institute for Public Health’s Global Health Center may also represent the School of Medicine on the Global Health Student Advisory Committee, an interdisciplinary committee aimed towards fostering engagement in global health across the different schools of the university.

WashU-related news stories with international themes:

Examples of Faculty with Internationally-Focused Research Interests

Peter U. Fischer, PhD | Professor of Medicine
Research Interests: Control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases, with a special focus on helminths. Performs both lab and field research on helminth infections, with much of his field research taking place in resource-poor settings in Africa and Asia. Dr. Fischer serves as the co-principal investigator for the Death to Onchocerciasis and Lymphatic Filariasis (DOLF) project supported by the Gates foundation.

Elvin H. Geng, MD, MPH | Professor of Medicine; Director, Center for Dissemination & Implementation, Institute for Public Health

Research Interests: Conducts research to advance the use of evidence-based interventions in the public health response to HIV and COVID-19 as well as increasingly for non-communicable diseases as well. Contributing to research collaborations with organizations in Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Uganda, Europe, and other nations, as well as in the US. 

Jeffrey Gordon, MD | Dr. Robert J. Glazer Distinguished University Professor, Departments of Pathology & Immunology, Developmental Biology, Molecular Microbiology

Research Interests: Studying the role of the gut microbiota in defining healthy growth of infants and children, and in the pathogenesis of malnutrition, with the goal of developing successful microbiota-directed interventions to improve weight gain in children with malnutrition. Currently conducting clinical studies of these interventions in Bangladesh, India, and several African nations. Dr. Gordon’s work is supported by the Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF.

Dave B. Clifford, MD | Professor of Neurology and Medicine; Melba and Forest Seay Professor of Clinical Neuropharmacology in Neurology
Research Interests: Interested in the pathophysiology and treatment of neurologic infectious diseases, with a particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS-associated neurologic diseases. Active in clinical trials involving HIV, HIV-associated cognitive disorder, HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy and pain, HIV-2, and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.


Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD | The Herbert S. Gasser Professor, Departments of Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, Pathology and Immunology
Research Interests: Focuses on the interface between viral pathogenesis and the host immune response. Studies the molecular basis of the immune response against globally important viral pathogens, such as West Nile Virus, Dengue, Hepatitis C, and COVID-19. Contributing to ongoing work in novel vaccine development against flaviviruses, alphaviruses, and coronaviruses.

Daniel E. Goldberg, MD, PhD | Professor of Medicine and of Molecular Microbiology; David M. and Paula L. Kipnis Distinguished Professor
Co-Director, Division of Infectious Diseases
Research Interests: Interested in the biology of malaria and in developing new drugs for malaria.

Mark D. Huffman, MD, MPH | Professor of Medicine; Co-Director of the Global Health Center, WashU Institute for Public Health
Research Interests: Improving global cardiovascular health and health care in low- and middle-income countries through the implementation of evidence-based interventions and policies and in bringing lessons learned back to the United States.