OUWB exchange program helps medical students gain global health perspective

OUWB exchange program helps medical students gain global health perspective
OUWB students in Jerusalem/Hadassah Medical Center
Through its Global Health Initiative, the OUWB provides fourth-year medical students with experiences designed to enhance their awareness of international issues relevant to health. (Photos courtesy Austen Knapp)

Through its Global Health Initiative, the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine provides fourth-year medical students with experiences designed to enhance their awareness of international issues relevant to health while exposing them to other cultures, languages and knowledge of other health care systems.

Oakland University alumna Austen Knapp, who graduated from OUWB this past May with a medical degree, credits the program with providing her the opportunity to participate in a one-month elective in plastic surgery in Jerusalem, Israel at Hadassah Medical Center, a world-renowned institution and the largest medical center in the Middle East.

“This program was one reason I chose Israel as my exchange site,” Knapp said. “I enjoyed the expanded experience and chance to form more in-depth relationships. Also, Israel’s healthcare system is quite advanced, and I knew I could learn medical knowledge and techniques to add to the education I received in the U.S.”

OUWB students in Jerusalem/Hadassah Medical Center
Knapp in Israel

According to Rachel Yoskowitz, director of the Global Health Initiative and an assistant professor in the Department of Foundational Medical Studies at OU, the bi-directional exchange program allows OUWB students to spend a month at an affiliated University School of Medicine, with locations including Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Israel and Jordan.

“Our affiliations are designed to offer medical students an opportunity for level appropriate clinical learning in another health care system and in a different culture,” Yoskowitz said. “All of our students have had very robust experiences and been impressed by what they saw and learned.”

The agreement enables OUWB students — up to four at any given time — to spend a month at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem while students from the Hebrew University Hadassah School of Medicine spend two months at Beaumont.

“Having medical students from our international affiliates come to OUWB and to Beaumont provides for medical students from different cultures to get to know one another,” said OUWB Founding Dean Robert Folberg, M.D. “Sometimes, students who come to OUWB and Beaumont become hosts for OUWB students who go abroad, thus deepening the academic relationships and friendships.”

For Knapp, who grew up in a small farming community in central Illinois and is the first in her family to attend college, the exchange program provided a unique opportunity for personal growth.

“Having never been to the Middle East before, I relished the opportunity to expand my knowledge of peoples and cultures unlike my own,” she said. “I also hoped to gain more understanding to ultimately be a better physician for my future patients.”

OUWB students in Jerusalem/Hadassah Medical Center
Tran & Knapp

Knapp visited Israel in February, while OU alum Joseph Tran spent a month there in April.

“The highlight of the trip was the people I interacted with on a daily basis,” Knapp said. “I got to work with and learn from a world-renowned ophthalmologist and his patients. Not only did he take an extraordinary amount of time to teach me, at my level, he also took time to get to know me and advise me on my future career. Sharing in the moments of triumphs with his patients as well as in the moments of grief as I watched him tenderly deliver less than ideal news were moments I will carry with me. “

Knapp said she felt honored to have been given the opportunity to work at the Hadassah Medical Center, where a “typical day” included conversing with patients, working in the clinic, performing surgeries in operating rooms, attending lectures, and practicing different surgical techniques.

OUWB students in Jerusalem/Hadassah Medical Center
Knapp at the Hadassah Medical Center


“One of the biggest rewards of the whole experience was the honor to share in the care of patients,” she said. “On the plastic surgery service, there were difficult situations and patients who were facing unimaginable circumstances. And yet, I was able to share in their experiences, hopefully making their time better, even when we couldn’t share conversation. I think this is the area that OUWB prepared me the most for.

“Yes, I felt competent and comfortable in the exchange and learning of medical knowledge — as a fourth-year medical student about to start residency this is vital,” she added. “However, beyond the diagnosis and treatment of patients, I felt I was able to truly care for them because the OUWB School of Medicine takes a liberal arts approach to the development of its physicians, emphasizing not only the diagnosis and treatment of disease but also connecting with the humanity in each patient and recognizing that each person is much more than their physical ailments.”

Outside the hospital, Knapp enjoyed spending time with her fellow students and seeing the sights in Israel.

“There were many firsts, ranging from dipping my toes in the Mediterranean Sea, sharing Shabbat dinner with a family of 30, and traveling to the West Bank,” she said. “It was also breathtaking for me to experience the religious sites of Christianity and others. Wandering the different quarters in Old City Jerusalem was also one of my favorite things to do.”

To learn more about the OUWB Global Health Initiative, visit oakland.edu/medicine.