Vanderbilt Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship

https://www.vanderbiltem.com/global-em

The mission of Vanderbilt's Division of Global Emergency Medicine is to collaborate with international partners to extend the department's vision of discovering, teaching and delivering patient centered emergency care to low and middle income countries trough the development of locally sustainable emergency medical systems.

Our primary international partnership is at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation in Guyana, South America. In conjunction with our local Guyanese partners, we have developed an emergency medicine residency training program and have graduated eight classes of residents who are now working as the first emergency medicine trained physicians in the country. Our global health fellow spends a significant portion of time in Guyana, working clinically, providing didactic and bedside teaching to our guyanese resident physicians, assisting in local projects and completing a scholarly project.

Our Global EM Division consists of fellowship trained faculty members who have experience working in low and middle income countries. All of our division members are committed to working and teaching in Guyana on a regular basis. Areas of expertise among our division faculty members include EMS system development, emergency medicine residency education, curriculum development,  emergency ultrasound and simulation. Our fellowship is flexible based on the needs/interests of each fellow and the curriculum will be developed after mentoring/discussion with both fellowship director and division director.

Opportunities for ongoing global EM project involvement:
 - Global EM systems development in resource limited setting
 - Global EM residency training program development
 - Global EM residency curriculum innovation/modification
 - Global EMS system development and education
 - Global EM Fellowship development and implementation
 - Simulation curriculum development and implementation
 - POCUS in resource limited setting
 - Operations and administrative guidance in resource limited setting











Curriculum

The goal of the Global Emergency Medicine fellowship is to train emergency medicine residency graduates in the challenging and broad field of global health. We will ensure that our fellows get an extensive and individualized exposure to diverse areas of global health including international emergency medicine development and education, global health policy, tropical medicine, humanitarian aid and research.

Our fellows spend between three to five months abroad each year working on various projects and training. The main focus of the fieldwork involves active participation in our ongoing EM residency development project in Guyana. The exact focus of the fellow’s project will be tailored to the fellow’s interests.

The fellowship can be a one or two year fellowship, depending on the individual fellow applicant. Formal education is discussed with each fellow applicant and the educational plan is made in conjunction with the interests and future goals of the fellow. An MPH program or equivalent is encouraged. The external program at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) or other online programs are a good option given the travel requirements of the fellowship. Fellows will take a tropical medicine diploma course. Options include the Gorgas Course in Peru, the University of Minnesota/CDC program or the East Africa Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Fellows are required to conduct at least one research or scholarly project during the fellowship. We have excellent support from the division of EM research. Collaboration with researchers at the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health is also an option. Fellows are expected to write a manuscript of publishable quality.

Global EM fellows receive a Vanderbilt clinical fellow appointment and work in the Vanderbilt ED as an attending physician supervising/teaching medical students and residents. Fellows are assigned eight nine-hour shifts per month, with flexibility in assigning shifts to fit around international duties.



Projects

Project Name & Description Details

Georgetown Public Hospital EM Residency Simulation Curriculum Development

The current COVID-19 pandemic has made it challenging for Vanderbilt University Medical Center Emergency Medicine faculty to provide in-person education to Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation EM residents. We have conducted a Needs Assessment of the instructor and target learner populations to contextualize the most relevant, feasible, and appropriate educational content for a Simulation Curriculum for GPHC EM residents. We aim to identify in which topics GPHC residents most want and need further training, to help optimize the development and delivery of this simulation content either in person or by a virtual platform. Details




Alumni
Brian Bales

Assistant Professor

Shannon Langston

Assistant Professor

Jordan Rupp

Assistant Professor

Tiffany Alexander

Assistant Professor

Kristen Dettorre

Assistant Professor

Jamie Cirbus

Assistant Professor

Joseph Reardon

Assistant Professor




Contacts

Program Director
Kristen Dettorre
Assistant Professor

Kristen completed her Emergency Medicine Residency training at Vanderbilt in 2009 and was Vanderbilt’s first Emergency Medicine Global Health Fello...




Application

Application Criteria

Applicants must be board certified or board eligible graduates from an ACGME accredited emergency medicine residency. If you are interested in applying to our program, please let us know!

Application Process

Please send the following documents: 1. CV 2. Personal statement - stating interest in our global health program, strengths you would bring to the program, your experience and goals for fellowship 3. Three letters of recommendation - one must be from current chairman or residency director. **Applicants must also register with the NRMP as global EM fellowship positions will be matched through NRMP process**

Important Dates

Application Deadline : Oct 15, 2021

We are accepting applications for our 2022 fellowship position!

Interview Date : Oct 21, 2021

Exact interview date to be determined. All interviews will be virtual format.