International Health Track

For WVU Medical Students

This is a new program which will be offered to WVU medical students who are in their first year. The offering of the International Track will be in addition to the entire regular curriculum and will be sponsored by the International Health Program at WVU. This track was approved by the WVU School of Medicine Curriculum Committee on September 12, 2005. Students may apply in February of the year in which the summer program is offered. Two students will be selected for the program each year by a committee made up of faculty. The components of the track will be as follows:

• Students will take the eight-week course offered by WVU every summer entitled “Clinical Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Course”. The course is one of only nine in the United States and is fully accredited by the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene. Tuition for this course will be waived for the students. (The usual tuition for the entire course would be $3400.)
  
  
• A stipend will be given during the summer course to help defray living expenses.
  
  
• Students will participate in the Students for International Health Organization at WVU School of Medicine and will also have the opportunity to work with other organizations here such as the Medical Spanish Association of WVU, Circa Terra, and Physicians for Human Rights.
  
  
• Students will have the opportunity to do up to two months of an international elective during their fourth year of medical school (as long as they remain in good academic standing). A travel scholarship will be given to help with travel expenses.
  
  
• Upon graduation, the students will receive a certificate from WVU School of Medicine recognizing their completion of the International Track.
  
  
• Students will be eligible to sit for the national certifying exam in Clinical Tropical Medicine after they graduate.
  
  
• Students accepted in the international track must remain in good academic and professional standing within the MD degree curriculum. Should a student have an adverse action imposed by the Dean removing this good standing, the student will no longer be eligible for the participation in the program. Due process for adverse actions will follow the standard procedures in the Policy on Academic and Professional Standards Governing the MD degree program. There will be no readmission to the program once the status is lost.

Melanie A. Fisher, MD, MSc
Director, International Health Track