UCLA medical student Debbie Martins still remembers a 2-year-old girl she met last summer while working with children suffering from malaria and tuberculosis in a Mozambique clinic. The child suffered from tuberculosis, which had infected her spine and paralyzed her from the waist down.
“Some of the things we would never see here and that we study in textbooks are still happening … you have to go a little further to see them,” said Martins about her experience with the clinic.
The program Martins participated in is offered through the UCLA Center for World Health, which provides students the opportunity to do medical research abroad in a country of their choice.
Martins, who earned a bachelor of science in anthropology from UCLA in 2012 and is currently a student leader at the center, said she chose to do her research in Mozambique because of her interest in different cultures and pediatric surgery-related diseases.
The impetus for the center’s creation in 2012 came from growing student demand for more global health programs, said Greg Szekeres, deputy director of the center. The center receives $1 million annually from UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine for its programs.
The center delayed its official unveiling, which took place last week, to take time to build the center’s identity and core programs, said Szekeres.
The first global health program Martins participated in at the center was a survey course on global health. Participation in the center’s programs is open to students as well as the general public, said Traci Wells, education coordinator for the Center’s Global Health Education Program.
The center, which is housed in the David Geffen School of Medicine, offers several other opportunities, including the Short Term Training Program and Global Health Journal Club sessions, which allow students to develop their medical research skills.
Wells said the center’s hope is that medical students interested in its programs incorporate what they learn about global health into their future careers.