Overseas Opportunities as a Premed

 

Newport Premedical Consulting, LLC

Newport Premedical Consulting, LLC

This page highlights overseas experiences that have a science, public health or medicine theme that may be of interest to premeds. Some offer credit while others are just experiential or internship based. Each site will have updates on their COVID response, health and safety protocols but check back often as things can change.

Please refer to the Study Abroad as a Premed page for more information and insight about the impact of studying abroad for credit during the academic year. 

This AAMC page highlights how current medical school students have demonstrated these competencies in their application. Learn more about the AAMC 15 Core Competencies including Cultural Competence than can be easily demonstrated through an abroad experience.

Study Abroad, Work, Volunteer & Summer Internships*

API offers a variety of semester, year, summer, gap year and internship programs on all academic subjects. Of particular interest to a premed, check out the following academic subjects: biomedical sciences, medical studies, pharmacy, public health, physiology and social justice. For prevets, they offer zoology and animal science. Their website has a handy program finder feature. A few highlights include:

Atlantis  Premed International Fellowships. Shadow doctors abroad for 20+ hr/wk. Program length: 3-6 weeks. Most students choose to be abroad for 3+ weeks and will gain 60+ hours of shadowing. Countries: Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Serbia, Lithuania. Knowledge of host country is preferred but not necessary. Several students choose to repeat the program summer after summer and return to either the same location or choose a different country. Atlantis also offers a 4 week MCAT course that includes 40 hrs of MCAT instruction plus 40 hrs of shadowing. The location of the MCAT courses vary each year. Great article from Atlantis that highlights how a premed from Purdue incorporated study abroad into her college experience: Medical Volunteering Abroad: One Pre-Med’s Take On It (Oct 13, 2021).

American Chemical Society (ACS) has a page highlighting study abroad programs for Chemistry majors both graduate and undergraduate, scholarships and internships. 

Broadreach study abroad offers numerous opportunities for pre-med and pre-vet students interested in biodiversity, animal science, marine science and medicine. Broadreach offers programs for College and High School Students. Pre-vet locations include: Bahamas, Iceland, Bali, Costa Rica, Fiji, Italy and Ecuador. Sample pre-vet topics include: Dolphin and Wildlife Conservation in Italy, Biodiversity in the Galapagos, Veterinary Experience in Costa Rica, Shark Studies in Fiji. Pre-med topics include: ER Medicine in Dominican Republic, Medical Spanish in Ecuador and Physical Therapy in Spain. Credit offered through Lesley University in MA. (For summer 2021, they seem to only be offering PADI Scuba courses.)

Child, Family Health International offers programs for premeds interested in Global Health, health disparities, and international medicine. Program length runs from 2 weeks to 12 months. This could also be considered for a GAP year as well as a summer option. Programs offered in: USA, Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda. (CFHI has temporarily suspended programs through August 31, 2021 but they are recruiting participants for September 1, 2021 on. They do offer virtual opportunities.)

CIEE  offers an 8 week summer program in community health in Argentina for 10 credits.

University of Colorado Premed Course in Costa Rica: Costa Rica Course: Wilderness Medicine & Global Health. Dec. 2022 and July 2023, 10 days course. Taught by School of Medicine faculty. Students receive certificate in Wilderness First Responder and in Global Health.

Community Public Health in Khon Kaen, Thailand (CIEE) This 17 week semester program focuses on understanding public health in Thailand. (This program is no long is listed on the CIEE website, but stays tuned in case it returns post-COVID.)

Ecela Spanish: Argentina. Chile, Peru. Programs offered: Medical Spanish + Clinical shadowing, Psychology study abroad program, gap year program. Ecela Spanish follows AAMC guidelines on ethical shadowing abroad.

DAAD RISE (Research Internships in Science and Engineering). Intensive summer of research in Germany for no less than 10 weeks. No previous German language required. 

DIS: Study Abroad in Scandinavia DIS offers a semester program in Denmark called Medical Practice and Policy. Students take coursework plus work in a Danish hospital shadowing residents and doctors. DIS also offers 80+ summer programs. Some topics that may be of interest to pre-meds: Lab and Research (research assistantship), Medical Ethics, Health Care Systems - A Comparative Approach, Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Psychology of Violence and Hate, Psychology of Emerging Adulthood, Translational Medicine: The Power of Biomedical Research. All programs include at least one study tour to another country.

Doctors in Italy offers a two-week program in Rome and Milan, rotating through up to 5 specialties for a total of 40-90 hrs of shadowing English-speaking doctors.

The Education Abroad Program office of the University of California manages study abroad programs for the UC system. This website highlights the 171 programs in 40 countries. Use the search tool to narrow down the options. For example, Public and Global Health yielded 53 programs. Although this site highlights programs for UC students, the host universities or programs are normally open to any school (ex: CIEE, University of Queensland, University College Dublin or the University of Glasgow) so check with your university to see if they have an affiliation with the overseas institution.

Elective Africa. Offering mentoring, shadowing and internships in hospitals in Kenya and Tanzania for premeds, medical students, health care students (PAs, dental, nurses, midwife) and professionals. Elective Africa follows the AAMC guidelines for conducting patient care abroad.

Global and Public Health in Manipal, India (IFSA) This semester program focuses on public health in India including a required core course and four electives. (The program is suspended of the fall 2021, but they are recruiting participants for spring 2022.)

Global Leadership Adventures offers teens (ages 14-18) the opportunity to conduct service abroad. Programs span 14-21 days and could be of interest to both pre-med and pre-vet students.  The global medicine and public health programs in Ghana, Dominican Republic, Peru and Bali might be of particular interest to premeds. For those interested in veterinary medicine, perhaps consider Elephant Health in Thailand or the Sea Turtle Initiative or the Animal Rescue Project in Costa Rica. 

Health Studies semester program sponsored by IES in a semester program located in Santiago, Chile.

International Medical Aid gives students the opportunity to shadow health care workers in Latin America and East Africa. This program is not only for premeds, but is also appropriate for any pre-health student (PA, nursing, dental) plus medical residents and medical students seeking an elective rotation abroad.

Johns Hopkins University Pre-Professional Advising Office lists several study abroad programs and options for premeds. 

Loop Abroad for veterinary experiences abroad. Loop Abroad will be operating its in-person Thailand Veterinary Semester Abroad for pre-vet students beginning in January. Loop programs are designed by veterinarians and taught by veterinarians. Loop also offers online courses, research and internship programs (many virtual now) in Thailand, South Africa, Australia, the Amazon, Belize and the Galapagos.

Marine Resource Studies is a semester program located in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Middlebury College page on Health and Pre-Med Programs Abroad

Volunteer with Missionaries of Charity in India and other locations.

MSID - Minnesota Studies in International Development in Ecuador, Kenya or Senegal.  This semester or year long program requires students to complete either an internship or research project with a local non-profit. Many students select a public health topic. Requires 4 semesters of Spanish for Ecuador and 4 semesters of French for Senegal.

Princeton's Health Professions office has a long list of opportunities including Uganda, Cambodia, England, Belize and France.

School of International Education SIT offers over 60 study abroad programs during the semester and summer on topics such as Political Ecology in Tanzania, Refugee, Health and Humanitarian Action in Jordan, Global Health in Switzerland, Culture and Social Change in Vietnam.

STEM Summer Research London Program at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London for 6 weeks.

Swarthmore College has a great list of summer opportunities both domestic and abroad. 

University of Michigan International Center This site literally includes links to hundreds of work, internship or study opportunities abroad.

University of Colorado, Costa Rica Course on Wilderness Medicine & Global Health. UC offers courses during the winter (December) and summer breaks. UC also offers a Wilderness & Emergency Medicine Course in Colorado too.

Unite for Sight focuses on promoting eye health and preventing blindness around the world. They offer a hands-on global volunteer program around the world for people 18+yrs.  Unite for Sight has branches on many college campuses so you can get involved closer to home.

Direct Enrollment: In addition to the many theme-based study abroad programs listed above, student can directly enroll at a foreign university or through a study abroad program such as Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University or Arcadia University (to name just a few) and take a wide range of classes at a foreign university. Science based classes can range from Physiology and Neuroscience to Public Health and Kinesiology. Providing you speak the language, your home institution offers credit, and you have the prerequisites to take the class, the options are endless. Why not study Genetics at Oxford, Microbiology in Chile, do an internship with the Ministry of Health in Wellington, New Zealand or spend a summer at Imperial College in London studying Biomedicine. Please visit your study abroad office for more specifics on credit and options. 

Guide to Online Research This extensive website outlines how best to conduct online research when scrolling through research databases, search engines and websites. This site is worth a quick look to browse what is available then bookmark it and return to it when you need to drill down for more specific information or need help navigating an academic/scientific website.

While engaging in volunteer medical work abroad, please do NOT perform any procedure that you are not trained to do or licensed to perform. Some physicians may not know your particular level of expertise, so they may offer you the opportunity to do something that is beyond your skill set. Politely decline the offer. Before conducting clinical volunteer work, please carefully read the following links:

* Newport Premedical Consulting, LLC does not recommend or endorse any particular program listed above. Programs are listed as a point of resource. Students must conduct their own research to determine if a program fits their needs.

Last edited 10/11/2022