Home  MCCM                 Around the World in 80 Ways

80 Ways our Faculty, Students and Alumni are Circling the Globe

By Linda Dent

The fictional character Phileas Fogg undertook the challenge of an around-the-world journey in the story, Around the World in 80 Days. Like Fogg, GW Medical Center has accepted a challenge—a challenge to tackle some of the critical healthcare needs and issues—locally, nationally and internationally. Throughout the magazine are references to the opportunities seized by students, faculty and staff to extend the reach of the GW Medical Center beyond 2300 I Street, whether it is six blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue, across the city on Capitol Hill, on the streets of Southeast or the rural communities of Mississippi, the Himalayan Mountains or roadless hills of Brazil. Some travel hundreds of miles, while others have contributed their time and resources to make opportunities available to students, faculty and staff who can impact the healthcare needs—leaving a legacy, making an imprint and changing lives.

Jaclyn Lewis says she knew immediately during her interview that GW was the place to help her realize her dream. “I had found the place that would cultivate my passions,” says Lewis. “GW combined the traditional medical education with an innovative experience in areas of my passions—health policy, community health and global health. The Office of Student Opportunities (OSO) led me to a unique internship experience with the National Association of Community Health Centers which exposed me to practical experiences in the community and on Capitol Hill that I could not have encountered elsewhere.”

In fact, Lewis not only conducted research during her internship, but when her supervisor delivered her baby early, Lewis was tapped to appear before a Congressional committee to present research findings on Community Health Centers. “This is the most amazing place to have a medical school in the country,” says Jim Scott, MD, dean, School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS). “There are things we can be involved in that you just can’t do anywhere else. Through our Office of Student Opportunities, we provide a lunch time lecture series that has the leaders from National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, Pan-American Health Organization, AARQ and more meeting and inspiring our medical students. Our students can be engaged—it truly has changed our medical school.”

Created just several years ago, the OSO is transforming the way students prepare for and embrace the healthcare profession. “GW provides students and the faculty with tremendous local, national and international opportunities. With these opportunities, comes a responsibility for all of us to be involved in shaping healthcare policies and participating in the national and international debates about healthcare. We cannot just sit on the sidelines—we must be involved and our students must be involved,” says Dr. Scott. “We need to exercise and encourage leadership in healthcare, particularly in terms of access to care.”

Students have the option of pursuing an interest area within seven different tracks, extending beyond the core academic curriculum. Tracks of study include community/urban health, disaster preparedness, global health, health policy, integrative medicine, medical education and research.

Students pursuing the community/ urban health track gain the knowledge and skills to address the health challenges of diverse and underserved communities. The disaster preparedness track helps students learn how to meet today’s emerging threats and public health crises. Mentors and instructors include nationally recognized leaders in first responder training and education, homeland security policy, medical disaster planning, preparedness and response. “GW has provided a unique learning environment that I would not have experienced elsewhere,” said student Marsha Mitchum, who spent 13 years as an Air Force pilot before attending medical school. Participating in the disaster preparedness track, Mitchum spent her summer as an intern at the Air Force Surgeon General’s office and is an ongoing participant in syndromic surveillance research with GW’s Emergency Medicine Department.

The global health track is designed to increase awareness about international health systems, regional diseases and the specific health needs of countries at various stages of development. Alumnus Keyshav Narain, MD ’92, established the Narain Summer Scholars Fund to support such efforts. “During my medical school career, I had the unique opportunity to participate in medical missions to third world countries. These experiences left an indelible mark on me as a physician and have influenced the way I practice medicine today. I thought it would be a wonderful thing for other dedicated students to have this same type of opportunity.”

Impacting the health policies that affect health and healthcare in the U.S. is central to the health policy track, and students are frequent practitioners on Capitol Hill and at government agencies. Students can gain knowledge, experience and understanding of integrative medicine in a four-year, longitudinal coordinated education program. Future academic medicine leaders and faculty are provided a foundation in education theory and techniques through the medical education track. And, students who want to integrate research into their future careers may pursue the research track.

While the global opportunities available to medical students today were not an integral part of the curriculum when Deborah Sarnoff, MD ’80, was at GW, students were allowed and encouraged to explore electives in their fourth year. “I went to NIH to do clinical research and the experience changed my life. I wouldn’t be who I am today had I not had that opportunity.” Dr. Sarnoff later had a chance to join her husband on medical missions to several third world countries. “Travel early on shapes who you are. It is an advantage for every student to have the opportunity to travel, but not every student is blessed with the resources to make it possible. I believe providing the opportunity to students is a wonderful thing GW can do, and that’s why I support the Office of Student Opportunities. By creating these opportunities for students, GW attracts the best and the brightest, and the best and the brightest don’t let GW down!”

“GW’s medical school is one of those places that has attracted resourceful students and encouraged them to remain engaged in shaping healthcare outcomes on a national and global level,” says student Kenechi Ejebe. “It has offered us an irreplaceable opportunity to study medicine.”

(Anne Banner, Thomas Kohout, Nancy Campbell and Debbie Goldstein contributed to this story.)