INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY MEDICINE

Our department has a strong interest in international EM.  Four of our faculty members are involved in international EM as are several EM residents, with more becoming involved all the time.

THE NETHERLANDS

Resident Rotation
A one-month structured and supervised PGY-3 or PGY-4 resident experience is available at the OLVG hospital in central Amsterdam.  Visiting UCSF Fresno residents have the opportunity to live in the vibrant city of Amsterdam while working in a healthcare system where EM is developing rapidly while defining its turf. As of July 2009 approximately 8 UCSF Fresno EM residents have taken advantage of this opportunity.  Please contact Michael Burg michael.burg@fresno.ucsf.edu for further details.

ACEP Ambassador
Michael Burg is an ACEP Ambassador to the Netherlands and spent 16 months there during 2003 and 2004 aiding in the establishment of EM as a specialty in that country. He remains involved in the educational effort there and is a frequent visitor and lecturer at Dutch CME courses.  Two other UCSF Fresno faculty members have been invited visiting lecturers at educational events in the Netherlands.  We expect this strong UCSF Fresno involvement to continue.

Collaborative Research, Medical Writing and Presentations
Approximately 10 articles and textbook chapters have been collaboratively written and published by Dutch and UCSF Fresno Emergency Physicians.  Additionally a variety of collaborative presentations have been given at international and national EM conferences.  The opportunity for more research and writing efforts involving Dutch and UCSF Fresno residents and faculty remains constantly available.

Visiting Dutch Emergency Physicians
Several Dutch EM residents have visited our department for brief periods.  Recently a Dutch Attending EP spent a one-month stint in our ED learning ultrasound with Rimon Bengiamin as his primary mentor. Upon his return home this physician was able to introduce ultrasound as an EM skill into the Dutch healthcare system. We anticipate that other Dutch Emergency Physicians will continue to visit our ED for additional skill acquisition.

 

THAILAND (and beyond)

Sarge Takhar stakhar00@yahoo.com is the faculty advisor for an EM resident Area of Concentration in Infectious Disease and Geographic Medicine. His interest in international medicine is in Infectious Disease and Tropical Medicine. In June, 2009 Sarge and an EM senior resident spent 2 weeks at the Hospital for Tropical Medicine in Bangkok, Thailand. Sarge plans to continue this rotation and further develop a relationship with UCSF Fresno and the faculty at Mahidol University in Thailand. He also plans to develop rotations in Central and South America as well as Sub-Saharan Africa. 

We will be welcoming Sarge’s Thai physician colleague, Dr. Watcharapong Piyaphanee, to Fresno in Fall, 2009.


CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY in ASIA

Rais Vohra recently joined the UCSF Fresno faculty. Rais completed his medical toxicology fellowship training in San Diego, and has since become involved in international toxicology education and research. This exciting and emerging subspecialty is focused on reducing the high global burden of illness from pesticide poisonings, overdoses, and snakebites. Notably, these problems are also well-represented in the agricultural, rural, and wilderness settings surrounding Fresno, so trainees from UCSF Fresno are especially well-suited to addressing these critical issues in toxicology around the world.

In his current role as the South Asian Regional Director of the American College of Medical Toxicology’s International Committee, Rais contributes to toxicology educational and research activities in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. He has visited and lectured in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, (China and India are upcoming), and continues to collaborate with clinicians from these countries. He is also interested in innovative approaches to toxicology and emergency medicine education in resource-poor settings, and is actively developing several web-based resources towards this goal. He is an online tutor for a web-based Master’s program in Clinical Toxicology sponsored by the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (http://pgim.nodes.lk/). Rais is also designing an online toxicology curriculum/directory (www.globaltoxicology.org) to help connect like-minded emergency physicians and toxicologists from around the world.

A summary of his first visit to Sri Lanka can be found here: http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/SUM07/SriLanka-toxicology.pdf 

There is plenty of room for resident involvement in Rais’ many international projects.

HONDURAS and GHANA (and beyond)



Michael McCullough (one of our star part-time faculty members) merges his multiple interests in EM, International Health, education, business and the non-profit sector into a variety of successful ventures.  As he writes, “I operate a clinical internship in Honduras for pre-meds and medical students, and am currently creating a new non-profit for orphans in Ghana.”  It is virtually impossible to keep track of his constantly emerging new involvements.  For UCSF Fresno EM residents and medical students, Michael brings access to his Rhodes, Ashoka, and Kauffman Fellows networks.  We refer you to his websites www.questbridge.org, www.beagooddoctor.org and to his email Michael@McCullough.net for updates.

UCSF FRESNO GLOBAL HEALTH CURRICULUM

Victoria Acharya vacharya@fresno.ucsf.edu in the Pediatrics Department coordinates an ongoing multi-disciplinary lecture series on International Health topics open to all residents and faculty.  Recently presented topics have included:  Medicine Under Occupation in Palestine, The Global Health Impact of Tuberculosis, and Planning Your Global Health Elective, amongst many others.  The Global Health Group may be able to provide some funding for scholarly international health projects.  Advising for international rotations is available through the group as well.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

International EM and opportunities for International Health involvement are alive, well, and growing at UCSF Fresno.  Residents and medical students with energy, imagination and vision are invited to participate.

Our program maintains connections with UCSF main campus and the UCLA Department of EM, among many others. Multiple opportunities exist for international health rotations, projects and involvements through collaborations with these institutions.  Most of these opportunities remain unexplored by faculty and residents in our program. We welcome your involvement and your interest in International Emergency Medicine.

International EM Fellowship

Michael Burg and Sarge Takhar are in the early stages of developing an International EM Fellowship.  Watch this space for further details.

For More General Information on International EM

http://www.acep.org/acepmembership.aspx?id=25144
ACEP International Emergency Medicine Section