Rationale:

The Global Health Forum is an extra-curricular activity for medical students at Queen's University. It is a group of students who meet on a weekly or biweekly basis to discuss literature in global health, as well as global health experiences. The group is composed of students from various health science disciplines such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, and nursing. Each meeting, one or two students have been designated to give a presentation about global health based on a personal experience or on global health research. Experiential presentations entail a description of one's personal experience working first hand within global health, as well as the problems, challenges, and potential solutions in the context of that specific population. Research-based presentations deal more with information from the literature about global health and disease. Students will be able to either synthesize information from a variety of sources, or just discuss one particular article. Presentations are followed by a discussion period where the ideas from the student talk can be dissected in a more dynamic and interactive way.  

Objectives:

• Allow students who have had experiences overseas or in any global health context to discuss their findings with a group of similarly interested students.
• Allow students who are interested to have the opportunity to learn more about global health in general and in specific locations.
• Create an open forum for published research to be presented and discussed.
• Foster an interest, enthusiasm, motivation, and desire for positive change in global health and fundamental human rights.
• Build an inter-professional atmosphere among health science colleagues and emphasize that global health initiatives require input and collaboration from all health disciplines
• Provide support to the overarching global health curriculum, and act in a parallel fashion to advance these goals.
• Create a warm, welcoming, and inquisitive environment where any questions, ideas, or concerns related to global health can be raised and responded to.
• Foster conditions for self-directed learning in global health.

If you are interested in being involved with this program, please contact Raed and Tony at: 7raj@queensu.ca and 1ah3@queensu.ca respectively.