Members of the medicine class of 1972 have donated over $100,000 to provide global health learning opportunities to students

By Fallon Bourgeois

More than forty years after graduating from medical school, several members of the Class of 1972 still remember what it was like to travel as students to developing countries and work in their healthcare systems. And they wanted to provide the same opportunities for current students.

“These hands-on experiences have the ability to broaden cultural and medical horizons and influence future career decisions,” says Ian MacDonald (MD ’72), class representative.

It was this lasting impact that motivated class members to establish the MD Class of 1972 International Health Education Endowment, during their 30^th anniversary in 2002.  Since then, they have raised over $100,000 to support students traveling to places like Rwanda, Argentina, Hong Kong, Guyana, Malaysia and South Africa with rotations in internal medicine, general surgery, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, psychiatry and obstetrics.

Eye-opening experiences

The bursary, which is awarded through Dalhousie’s Global Health Office, provides opportunities for medical students and residents to develop their medical skills.

Ellen Boyd (MD ’14) had the opportunity to do two global health electives in Tanzania and Argentina during her second and fourth year of medicine. Dr. Boyd says when working in developing countries, you often have to rely on your skills and not much else.

“It was like going back in time – everything was completely hands-on, without the benefit of technology. During my placement in Tanzania, I delivered a baby, something medical students don’t normally experience until fourth year,” says Dr. Boyd.

Magda Szumilas, who completed a psychiatry elective in South Africa during her fourth-year of medicine, says what she learned was truly eye opening.

“So often we look at the differences in people – ethnic background, financial resources, bureaucracies. Through the intimacy of the psychiatric interview, I was able to see that when all the external factors are stripped away, we are essentially the same.”

Enhancing lives

For the class members of 1972, hearing about the students’ experiences gives them a sense of pride.

“The learning opportunities these students have experienced during their global health electives is exactly what we had hoped to achieve when we started this fund,” says Dr. MacDonald. “We are sure these experiences will enhance their lives as well as those of their future patients.”