Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the mentor during the mentorship process include:

1) The medical student is responsible for initiating first contact by email or phone. Establish with the medical student the priorities he or she has set for the mentorship.

2) Establish ground rules for contact, regarding modality (phone, email or in person) and frequency. We understand that the nature of work in the NGO sector can be time consuming and hectic, and do not wish for this project to be a burden.

3) Based on questions from the student, present insight from your experience on the medical and health-related needs of various underserved populations.

4) Provide or share resources, articles, postings, or useful contacts with the medical student, only in cases where the mentor feels it is appropriate.

5) Encourage students to participate experientially in your work in order to get another level of understanding of global health related work.

Information for Prospective Mentors

The GHMP was created in response to the lack of standardized standardized global health education in Canada. This shortcoming was hindering our development into global health leaders, and so we are instead looking to global health experts to start showing us the way.

Through direct contact with a professional in the development sector, students can gain valuable practical knowledge that they can use as a medical student and future physician. In the past, mentorship has improved students’ knowledge and understanding of specific global health issues, global health resources and opportunities, and the ethics of global health work. This education is facilitated by discussions with the mentor, as well as an experiential component of the mentorship in which mentees volunteer their time to something that may add value to the mentor’s organization, such as a literature review, survey, or research.

Mentorships are structured so that each student develops personal goals for the mentorship. In addition, representatives from the GHMP organizational team regularly check in with each pair to ensure that goals are being met and to provide any other support. As well, mentorship pairs receive regular emails from our team with educational modules. Through these monitoring services, we strive to keep the mentorships dynamic.

Students identify an area of interest for learning when they apply to the program. These areas include:

• HIV, TB and Malaria
• Child Health
• Healthcare Infrastructure
• Relief and humanitarian assistance
• Human rights
• International health ethics
• Environment and ecosystem health
• Refugees & internally displaced persons
• Primary health and vaccinations
• Gender equality
• Sustainable housing, water and sanitation
• Health economics
• Conflict and reconciliation
• Education
• Maternal and reproductive health
• LGBTTTIQQ health
• Aboriginal health
• Immigrant health

Many mentors have experience in one of these areas, and are matched accordingly with the students who are interested in their work. The GHMP requires about 1-2 hours per month from a mentor, where she or he would communicate with a student over email, the phone or in person.

Students immensely value the mentors, as their experiences have helped fill in a huge gap in medical global health education. In addition, the relationship that is fostered between mentor and mentee often fosters the continual reflection and self-awareness that is required when engaging in the complex web of healthcare issues.

Download the Application Form: Word DOC