Short Term Global Health Service Trips UF medical students participate in UF sponsored clinical and research focused overseas trip
Over half of all UF medical students participate in UF sponsored clinical and research focused overseas trips during their medical school career. These initiatives have placed the Health Science center colleges in an elite group nationwide. The College of Medicine sponsors trips to Dominican Republic, Ecuador. Haiti, Mexico, and Nicaragua each Spring Break. The College of Medicine students collaborate with students from Pharmacy, Nursing and Dentistry to plan and execute the trips, with faculty input and oversight. The trips provide students with a brief immersion experience in cross-cultural medicine. They learn firsthand about the health inequities that exist in low resource settings and, with our partners from those settings, help meet the needs for health and dental services for community members in primarily rural settings. Many students have described their experience on the trips as “life changing.”
Information for Trip Leaders!
Trip Leaders
Please be sure to share with your third year participants that they MUST schedule a Family Medicine or Pediatrics (limit 2) rotation during Spring Break. Students CANNOT take Neurology during Spring Break and go on a trip! If you are a third year and unsure what rotation you should be on during Spring Break so you can go on the trips, please contact Dr. DeVos for assistance.
Where Are OUR PArtners?
dominican republic (dr salud)
Project DR Salud
DR Salud aspires to provide UF Health Science students with an opportunity to obtain a global perspective on health and medicine. Our work with Dominican medical students fosters strong and sustained international relations between the UF Health Science Center and our overseas partner UCNE. Together, DR Salud provides life-changing experiences not only for the students and attending physicians but also for the citizens we serve.
haiti
Project Haiti
While our group changes from year to year, the spirit remains the same. We are all passionate about international healthcare and being fully engaged in our global community. Our interdisciplinary group volunteers their time to help medically under-served areas in Haiti. The goal of each trip is to strike the perfect balance between education and service. We strive to provide high-quality and compassionate medical care to the populations we serve, while providing our volunteers with opportunities to become better providers.
ecuador
Project HEAL
Project HEAL is an interdisciplinary team of healthcare students and professionals that integrates the fields of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physician assistant, public health, and nursing. HEAL is an acronym for Health, Education, and Learning which embodies the philosophy of our mission: to provide care to rural and indigenous Ecuadorian villages, to identify public health concerns, and to educate the people in preventative practices. HEAL recognizes that a lasting impact can only be achieved by placing an emphasis on public health; we stress education in the areas of nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation through non-formal, participatory education and by taking the time to teach our patients.
haiti
Project Lac Azuei
Thanks to a unique program started five years ago, the UF Department of Emergency Medicine has been instrumental in improving health care in the fishing villages of Lac Azuei, Haiti. Over the years, the multi-disciplinary team has steadily grown and the scope of activities significantly expanded. The UF team now assumes primary responsibility for health care in the Lac Azuei villages.
nicaragua
Project Nicaragua
A health service trip that serves the people of Nicaragua. Established in 2007, we partner with the Global Health Outreach (a subsidiary of CMDA — Christian Medical and Dental Association) to accomplish a one-week trip to a rural village and set up clinic. Our trip creates a multi-faceted impact on the communities we visit.
Mexico
Project Yucatan
Project Yucatan was established in Spring 2003 as a student exchange program between Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY) and the University of Florida. Each spring, a team of medical students, pharmacy students, and physicians from the University of Florida travels to Mérida, Mexico to provide primary healthcare to the disadvantaged citizens of predominately Mayan villages throughout the Yucatan peninsula. Our efforts provide much-needed medical care to these communities, as many of the individuals seen in our clinics have little to no access to healthcare.
