COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY GLOBAL EMERGENCY MEDICINE FELLOWSHIP
The Columbia University Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship (CU Global EMF) is one of the country's first Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship programs. Since its inception in 2006, this competitive program has prepared practicing physicians to assume leadership in global health and humanitarian action. We train Emergency Physicians to become thought leaders in data-informed health systems strengthening, humanitarian action, and disaster response through research, service, and policy change. The CU Global EMF has produced leaders of global health in the WHO, Global Health Cluster, IRC, MSF, IMC, CDC, Ministries of Health, and Emergency Medicine programs worldwide.
The CU Global EM Fellowship has a history of training emergency physician educators, implementors, and researchers to decrease health disparities for vulnerable populations in settings with limited health resources. We approach these challenges through data-driven social determinants of health (social EM) approach to ensure health equity and justice. We produce global health leaders who approach public health problem-solving using mixed methods, implementation science to impact the global health system strengthening and humanitarian programs, effective advocacy, and impact policy.
The CU Global EMF is a two-year program that combines in-depth clinical and public health work in low-health-resource settings. Fellows enroll in a Master of Public Health (MPH) in the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health (Pop Fam), under the Forced Migration and Health program. It enables fellows to:
- Obtain the Public Health and Humanitarian Action (PHHA) Certificate (Choose Pop Fam and PHHA certificate to see the 2-year curriculum)
- Contribute to the Columbia University sidHARTe - Strengthening Emergency Systems Program through partnerships with governments (currently Ghana & Rwanda), universities, and local organizations to ensure timely, integrated, adaptive health systems strengthening throughout an effectively linked continuum of care.
Fellowship Experience
Each Fellow conducts approximately six months of fieldwork over two years, working 796 - 846 hours per year as an Instructor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP)/ Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) /Allen Hospital Emergency Department (ED). The NYP/CUIMC ED serves a predominantly low-income, underserved community in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan. Also, it serves as the ED for CUIMC, a major medical center providing tertiary healthcare services to the New York Tri-State area. It is one of two primary NYP Emergency Medicine Residency Program teaching sites. The Allen Hospital is NYP's community hospital in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan. Adult and pediatric patients can receive care from the same faculty at this site as at CUMC. In addition to understanding approaches to global public health systems, our fellows gain rich experience in humanitarian, disaster, and conflict-affected settings and the response to epidemic outbreaks. Fellows have been placed in MSF, IRC, WHO, IMC, and UNICEF organizations. Recent fellows' fieldwork includes the following recent illustrative examples:
Recent Partnerships with Ministries of Health (MoH) on Health System Strengthening
- sidHARTe – Strengthening Emergency Systems Ghana Program started in 2008.
- The current partnership with the USAID-funded Developing Acute Care and Emergency Referral Systems (ACERS) Consortium Emergency Maternal and Neonatal Care (EmONC) program in rural Ghana.
- Drs. Brennan Bollman and Alex Sloboda supported the implementation research on data collection and use regarding integrating rural district-level Emergency Dispatch Centers under the Ghana Ministry of Health’s (MoH) Ghana Health Service and National Ambulance Service.
- sidHARTe Rwanda Program - Since 2011, the Global EM fellows have supported our sidHARTe program effort on health systems strengthening under the direction of the Rwanda MoH.
- Drs. Charlotte Roy, Brennan Bollman, and Dr. William Bruno, the Emergency Medicine residency at The University Teaching Hospital in Kigali (CHUK) in 2021 and 2022.
- Dr. Abubakarr Bangura works under the MoH with Sierra Leone Partners in Health (PIH).
- Dr. Bangura will conduct an emergency care assessment (WHO ECO HEAT) of 17 government secondary and tertiary government health facilities in rural and urban settings in partnership with the WHO. 2022
Recent Humanitarian Action Partnerships
- Dr. Sabena Vaswani class ’2024, is currently working in Delhi, India, working with IPAS on long-term contraception program planning in underserved communities in rural India.
- Dr. Kevin Molyneux, class ’2024, is working with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Ciudad Juárez with the migrants and asylum seekers fleeing violence. He is working on addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of migrants staying in shelters.
- Dr. William Bruno is with MSF in Cox’s Bazar district on Bangladesh's southeast coast and has hosted Rohingya refugees fleeing targeted violence in neighboring Myanmar's Rakhine State. Dr. Bruno will be in Cox’s Bazar for 9 months in 2023.
- Drs. Kristie Hadley and William Bruno conducted direct clinical service delivery with Medical Teams International for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova in the summer of 2022.
- Dr. Charlotte Roy worked with MSF in conflict-affected Tigray, Ethiopia providing clinical support to fixed and mobile clinics in Shire, Ethiopia. 2021
- Dr. Brennan Bolman worked with Peru's MSF COVID-19 pandemic response during the outbreak's peak. 2021
- Dr. Charlotte Roy worked with MSF in conflict-affected Tigray, Ethiopia providing clinical support to fixed and mobile clinics in Shire, Ethiopia. 2021
- Dr. Brennan Bolman worked with Peru's MSF COVID-19 pandemic response during the outbreak's peak. 2021
Columbia University provides a comprehensive package of benefits designed to allow eligible faculty and staff to create a program suited to your needs and those of your family. Depending on your eligibility, the University offers healthcare coverage, dental coverage, flexible spending accounts, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), pre-tax transit and parking reimbursement, retirement benefits, tuition programs, and more. Finally, with the fellowship director's approval, up to $10,000 worth of fieldwork/CME is available annually.
Fellowship Curriculum
In addition to conducting clinical work during their first year, the Global EMFs are offered the ICRC Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) Course and matriculate in the CU MSPH MPH Program. The fellows enroll in the MSPH MPH Public Health and Humanitarian Action Certificate (PHHA) in the Heilbrunn Department of Population & Family Health (Pop Fam Department).
The second year focuses more on fieldwork. Many fellows gain rich acute health systems strengthening work with the Columbia University's Pop Fam Department's sidHARTe – Strengthening Emergency Systems Program. Here, the fellows hone programmatic and technical public health research skills through collaboration with local and global institutions at the government, university, and policy level. Since 2006 the fellows have worked on various aspects of complex adaptive systems implementation research as well as cascading capacity building in Ghana, Rwanda, and India.
The CU Global EMF fellowship also places emphasis on public health approaches to complex adaptive systems strengthening and research. Through structured learning in the MPH Program, we emphasize interdisciplinary, practice-based research, and education. Additionally, through the PHHA Certificate, students learn the most current needs of international humanitarian organizations and develop the skills necessary to succeed in complex emergencies, fragile states, and post-conflict environments. Located in New York City, both faculty and staff are connected to extensive humanitarian, human rights, and health networks locally and around the world.
Projects
| Project Name & Description | Details |
|---|---|
| sidHARTe - Strengthening Emergency Systems Program |
sidHARTe partners to provide timely, accessible, high-quality acute care systems in resource limited settings worldwide
|
| Acute Care and Emergency Referral Systems (ACERS) Project in Rural Ghana |
ACERS is a three-year, USAID-funded implementation research and capacity-building project that aims to contribute to the improvement in maternal and newborn outcomes.
|
| sidHARTe and HRH Rwanda Emergency Care Systems Program |
Since 2011 the Global EM fellows have supported our sidHARTe program effort on health systems strengthening under the direction of the Rwanda Ministry of Health (MoH).
|
Alumni
Hayes Wong
2018
Cara Taubman
2016
Aaron Hultgren
2012
E. Brennan Bollman
2021
Alexander Sloboda
2022
Trina Helderman
2009
Solomon Kuah
2008
Tim Tan
2014
Jonathan Lee
2017
Charlotte Roy
2021
Mary Choi
2011
Ben Kaufman
2020
Makini Chisolm-Straker, MD, MPH
2015
Deepti Thomas
2008
Tsion Firew
2017
Craig Spencer
2013
Dziwe Ntaba
2013
Eric Cioe Pena
2015
Alyssa Green
2019
Andrea Tenner
2012
Jeffrey Kinyon
2010
Shama Patel
2019
Hillary Cohen
2008
Sonya Stokes
2018
Timothy Depp
2020
Kristie Hadley
2022Contacts
Other Documents - Program Specific Requirements
1. A letter of interest (why you are interested in OUR CU Fellowship in particular – please be specific about why Columbia University)
2. A one-page personal statement (include your fellowship goals, research /implementation/advocacy interests, and post-fellowship goals)
3. Curriculum vitae (please include email and mobile phone number).
4. THREE letters of reference
a. TWO of your letters of recommendation should describe your personality and clinical acumen in detail (NOT reiterate your global health background unless they worked with you in the field)
i. ONE should be from the current Residency Program Director; focus on your personality and clinical acumen, NOT your global work, please
ii. ONE of your letters should describe your research, teaching, service, or advocacy work. Again NOT your global work, please.
Additional Application / Interview Information
The fellow will serve as an attending at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The salary is very competitive: benefits, tuition fees for the MPH, the Humanitarian Emergencies of Large Populations (HELP) course, travel expenses, and stipends are provided by the fellowship.
Application Criteria
Candidates for the fellowship must have successfully completed an ACGME-accredited residency in Emergency Medicine.
We are not accepting H1-B visa applicants. We do not sponsor J-1 visa applicants.
We seek to create an equitable, diverse, and inclusive community in the Columbia University NewYork-Presbyterian Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship. If there is anything that you would like to share with us regarding your pathway or challenges to Global Emergency Medicine or your identities, please let us know. Also, if you are interested in connecting to others within our diverse community, we would be happy to facilitate a connection.
Application Process
All applications must be submitted by the application deadline through the SAEM Application Portal button below. Please note, you must also register for the NRMP Match. For questions regarding the application portal, contact helpdesk@saem.org.
Important Dates
Applications may only be submitted between Jun 1, 2023 at 12:00PM and Sep 30, 2023 at 05:00PM
Application Deadline
September 30, 2023 at 5:00pm
Interview Date
October 18, 2023 at 8:30 am
