Medical School for International Health Electives

Collaboration between the Medical School for International Health Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The Ben Gurion University Medical School for International Health (MSIH) has had a long collaboration with Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S). The collaboration provides global health electives and first year summer rotations to our VP&S students each year.

Senior clinical electives have been offered in Israel, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Peru. The sites are reviewed each year to ensure safety and appropriate student supervision. The site directors are well trained and communicate regularly with MSIH leadership. Students are well supervised at the sites, interact closely with MSIH medical students, as well as with local medical students, and MSIH effectively handles the administrative issues including arranging housing, transportation, etc.

First-year summer rotations for VP&S rising second-year students are exclusively in Israel. They include working in a refugee clinic in Tel Aviv, a clinical site in Eilat, a Bedouin clinic near Be'er Sheva, and a hospital in the West Bank (provided that security is not an issue). These are shadowing experiences, include history taking when relevant, and are well supervised.

The reports from VP&S students who have rotated with MSIH have been uniformly positive.

You can read about VP&S Student Experiences here.

For more information about MSIH, you may contact: msihadmissions@post.bgu.ac.il