Global Health Fellowship Application
ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP
The Medical Missionaries Global Health Fellowship offers recent college graduates, graduate students, or professionals interested in global health the opportunity to gain experience in health care delivery in Haiti. Fellows spend one year in Thomassique, Haiti, working at St. Joseph Clinic, where they act as liaisons between Medical Missionaries—the US-based organization that built and provides funding for the Clinic—and the Clinic’s all-Haitian staff. The Fellowship runs from July through July of the next year.
During their year in Haiti, Fellows will serve as prime contact between Medical Missionaries’ U.S. headquarters and St. Joseph Clinic in Thomassique. They will coordinate health and community projects involving Community Health Workers, traditional birth assistants, mobile clinics, water purification, malnutrition, salt iodization, and education. Fellows also work with community leaders to implement innovative health programs in Thomassique and six outlying villages.
Moreover, Fellows also fulfill a variety of administrative roles such as monitoring medication usage, helping the Clinic to be well-organized, and coordinating the logistics for visiting teams of U.S. physicians, dentists, and surgeons. In addition to these responsibilities, Fellows have the opportunity to shadow the Clinic’s physicians, midwives, and nurses; work in the Clinic’s laboratory and pharmacy; and assist visiting surgical and medical teams. All necessary training will be provided.
Fellows live with Clinic staff in a residence adjacent to the Clinic. The Clinic and residence are gated and have security guards present 24/7. Living expenses are covered by Medical Missionaries, including a bedroom, meals, wireless satellite Internet access, a washing machine, and potable water and emergency evacuation insurance. Medical Missionaries also pays for Fellowship-related transportation costs for the Fellows, including up to two return trips to the States for periods of two weeks. This arrangement is ideal for individuals who are applying to graduate schools, including medical school, during the year and need to return to the country for interviews. Fellows should be physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared to live in a rural, underdeveloped setting for an extended period of time. They also should expect to be the only foreigners in Thomassique for most of the year.
ABOUT ST. JOSEPH CLINIC IN THOMASSIQUE, HAITI
Thomassique is a large town in Haiti’s Central Plateau, near the border with the Dominican Republic. Tuberculosis, typhoid fever, cholera, malaria, dengue fever, malnutrition, severe hypertension, and HIV are some of the prevalent disorders in the area. In 2006, Medical Missionaries built St. Joseph Clinic, replacing a one-bedroom house that had occasionally served as the area medical facility for the region’s 100,000 inhabitants.
St. Joseph Clinic offers primary care consultations, emergency care, maternal consultations and deliveries, as well as lab services, a pharmacy, and a pediatric vaccination program. All of the Clinic employees are Haitian. The facility is open five days a week for ambulatory care and twenty-four hours a day for emergency care. Medical Missionaries provides the Clinic with medicines and supplies in addition to funds for staff salaries and Clinic expenses. Several times a year, teams of U.S. physicians, surgeons, and dentists visit the Clinic to assist the staff and perform operations.
ABOUT MEDICAL MISSIONARIES
Medical Missionaries is a non-profit, non-religiously affiliated organization dedicated to providing health care, medical support, medical education, and training to under-served communities around the world regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. Headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, Medical Missionaries has provided medical relief and supplies to over 30 developing countries across the globe.
ELIGIBILITY AND SELECTION PROCESS
The Medical Missionaries Global Health Fellowship is open to recent college graduates, (including those graduating in May and June) and graduate students with a strong background and interest in global health. United States citizenship is required. Professionals are also welcome to apply though the Fellowship is not intended to be a clinical experience, but rather an introduction to providing health care services in a resource-limited setting.
We are looking for applicants with excellent academic and extracurricular records who demonstrate strong interpersonal and organizational skills, a well-developed sense of ethics, an open mind and willingness to learning about a new culture, and a commitment to reducing health disparities worldwide. We are especially interested in those applicants who have exhibited a high degree of leadership, self-direction, responsibility, and willingness to take on tasks that are at times less than glamorous, and have had experience living in resource poor settings. Applicants should be in good physical/mental/emotional health. Conversational knowledge of French or Creole is a plus, but not required.
Fellows will be expected to arrive in Thomassique in June to begin their training and the transition process. The fellowship year ends in July of the following year. The Fellowship is a full-year commitment.
Dr. Gilbert Irwin, President of Medical Missionaries, and Dr. Kenneth Kornetsky, Vice President of Medical Missionaries and Director of St. Joseph Clinic, will supervise the selection process. Current year Fellow will coordinate the process. All applicants will be considered on merit and without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
Application process for 2022-2023 is on hold at the moment due to the political climate in Haiti. Please fill in this form with contact information, and we will reach out once we are ready to accept applications and we will notify you once the process opens again
If you have additional questions, please email fellows@medicalmissionaries.org.
