Abstract
Background: Educating medical students to better understand the complexities of cultural competence, the social determinants and environmental determinants of health that are important and integral components of the medical school curriculum.
 Methods: In 2014, Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) implemented a new curriculum, the adoption of which provided the means to enhance an existing global health program, informally introduced in 2009, and to address the issues of cultural competency. In this article, we share WCM’s experience in building and expanding its global health curriculum.
 Results: A hallmark of our program is the successful collaboration between students and faculty to create a multi-disciplinary global health program that incorporates electives, clinical field placement, and collaborative research.
 Conclusion: Key lessons learned through our experience include the necessity for strong faculty-student collaboration, full support from the administration, and building global partnerships. Our example could be a useful guide for other medical schools seeking to establish a global health education curriculum.
Highlights
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education lists ‘Cultural Competency and Health Care Disparities’ as an important element in its[12] accreditation standards
We describe Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM)’s innovative and integrated approach to offering global health teaching in the medical school curriculum
Almost all (98%) of U.S medical schools enacted curricula changes that “enhanced integration of basic science content” and 95% of U.S medical schools made changes that “enhanced clinical correlations in the preclinical years.”[14]. At WCM, the new curriculum, among other things, increased emphasis on early clinical exposure during the first year, which allowed students to interact with patients beginning in the first semester of medical school
Summary
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education lists ‘Cultural Competency and Health Care Disparities’ as an important element in its[12] accreditation standards. The most prevalent example of a global health program is offering an international elective experience. Between 1998 and 2008, medical schools in the United States and Canada experienced a 270% increase in the number of students participating in an international experience.[8] As of 2013, the latest year for which we found available data, at least two-thirds of medical schools offered global health opportunities.[9] little standardization across programs existed in terms of requirements for didactic, clinical, scholarly, and cultural components.[10]. Educating medical students to better understand the complexities of cultural competence, the social determinants and environmental determinants of health that are important and integral components of the medical school curriculum. Our example could be a useful guide for other medical schools seeking to establish a global health education curriculum
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