Global Health

Since 2007, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago have partnered with Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania, for a bi-directional resident exchange.

Each year, as many as 20 third-year pediatric residents travel to Tanzania to participate in an educational initiative that includes gaining exposure to the management of complex pediatric diseases in a low-resource setting. As part of this initiative, our residents are trained to implement an innovative low-tech simulation curriculum for Tanzanian medical students.  

Lurie Children’s also sponsors a monthlong exchange curriculum where Tanzanian residents are able to come to Chicago to participate in educational conferences, medical simulation, research skills training and clinical exposure. A key to the success of this program has been this bi-directionality, which allows us to work along side our international colleagues and bridge the gap of inequalities in healthcare delivery to underserved children while exposing residents to medical care in developing countries. 

The exchange program is an extraordinary opportunity for residents to apply their advocacy skills in a multicultural setting.