Summer Internship APPLICATION DEADLINE: MARCH 30th

A hard copy of all applications and supporting materials should be submitted to Yadira Rivera's mailbox, located in the CGIS South Building at 1730 Cambridge Stree.

Host institution: Universidad de Los Andes School of Medicine, Bogota, Colombia
Duration: 12 weeks (June, July and August)
To start being offered in: Summer 2009

Person responsible for the program in Bogota:
Maria C. Gutierrez, MD, MBA. Academic Secretary, Los Andes School of Medicine. Tel: (57) 1 3324282, email: mariguti@uniandes.edu.co

Contact person at Harvard: Carlos O. Mendivil-Anaya, MD. Doctoral Student at Harvard School of Public Health.
Tel: 857 3181231, email: cmendivi@hsph.harvard.edu

Profile of the applicant: Junior or senior student in the pre-med track at Harvard College. Some knowledge of Spanish desirable.

Criteria for selection of applicants: Transcripts (GPA>3.3), 2 letters of recommendation, 300-400 words statement of intention. Please note that participants will not be receiving credit for this program.
# of positions available: 2.


Summary of the study program:

Block 1 (June):
During the morning hours, Monday through Friday, the interns will take anatomy lessons (mainly with simulation dolls) and histology classes with the local med students.
During the afternoon hours, the interns will participate in a social medicine project, in which they will receive 8 hours of instructions about the “Visita domiciliaria” (Home visit) program, and subsequently make a visit to the home of a chronically ill patient while supervised by a University Faculty member, and collect information relevant to how the living environment affects the health status of the patient. The results of the visits will be shared in a three-hour poster session at the end of the block, in which the local med students also participate.

Block 2 (July):
During the morning hours, the interns will participate as observers in the clinical rounds of three clinical services (one week each): pediatric primary care, emergency medicine and non-invasive procedures in internal medicine. During the afternoons, they will participate in an epidemiology project that seeks to correlate levels of air pollution with the risk of respiratory diseases in children that go to schools close to the most transited streets.

Block 3: (August):
During the morning hours, the interns will take anatomy and histology classes with the local med students (different from the ones in the first block). During the afternoon hours, the interns will participate in the "Introduction to Medicine" course given to first semester med students, in which they acquire basic training in the application of injections and in venopuncture techniques using simulation dolls; and take a First Aid mini-course imparted by American Heart Association-accredited instructors.

Costs: The selected applicants will be responsible for the costs associated with their housing and maintenance. Estimated costs of living in Bogota are:
Housing: U$400/month (can be shared between the two interns),
Food: U$400/month,
Airfare: U$600-800
Transport: U$200/month,
Recreation, others: U$200/month.
Housing will be arranged through the School of Medicine (Dr. Gutierrez) for the three months of internship. Financial support may be sought through various offices at Harvard including the new David Rockefeller International Experience Grant http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~oip/
Vaccinations:  Applicants must provide proof of vaccination against Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, tetanus and meningococcus. Applicants also must provide proof of health insurance.

About the institution/city: The Universidad de Los Andes is the most prestigious private University in Colombia, and is now celebrating the 60th anniversary of its foundation with a number of cultural and social events, and new exchange programs. The University is located in the colonial center of Bogota, a city that sits at the flat top the Andes mountains. For this reason, Bogota is a rather cold city (40-60 degrees Farenheit all the year), so we recommend the interns to bring warm clothing.