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The Medical School for International Health (MSIH)

About MSIH

In 1998, BGU Faculty of Health Sciences initiated a new program aimed to extend their philosophy and experience to students from around the world. The Medical School for International Health (MSIH) follows a four-year North-American style curriculum taught in English by BGU Medical School faculty. MSIH is a unique medical school that incorporates global health components into all four years of the core M.D. curriculum.

As a small and prestigious medical school, MSIH offers an M.D. program that prepares graduates for a career going far beyond the hospital or private clinic. MSIH students gain the training necessary to practice medicine while meeting the challenges of global health — and make a real impact.

MSIH is the first and only medical school in the world to incorporate mandatory global health components into all four years of the M.D. curriculum. MSIH graduates are prepared intellectually, clinically and emotionally to enter the complicated and challenging world of Global Health.

Presented in English, the degree program is taught by experienced physicians with years of personal Global Health involvement. Since the programs launch over 25 years ago, over 600 MSIH graduates have taken positions as physicians around the world.

As of 2022, the Medical School for International Health is no longer accepting international students.

Why Global Health?

The world is more interconnected than ever, and the health of people everywhere is of growing concern to us all. Diseases do not respect boundaries and countries throughout the world are more diverse than they were even a decade ago. Studying global health at MSIH allows the student to learn the clinical skills and medical knowledge needed to put patients first, be it in a humanitarian emergency, a refugee clinic, a world class medical center or a local medical practice.

How Does the MSIH M.D. Focus on Global Health?

Specific global health modules such as Tropical Diseases, Birth as a Human Rights Issue, Nutrition, Anatomy of Urban Health for the Poor and Underserved, HIV/AIDS, International Health Promotion, Migration and Health, Tuberculosis, Cardiovascular disease in developing countries and other relevant topics.

Clinical clerkships providing exposure to diverse patients from southern Israel’s Bedouin and Ethiopian communities, as well as to recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East

Eight weeks in a global health rotation in diverse locations around the world

Year-long course on clinical and global medicine that provides the history, critical concepts and practices, and emerging issues in the field

Courses in epidemiology and anthropology that emphasize demographic and cultural issues

Course in biostatistics that develops the skills to write a high-quality research paper on topics relevant to global health issues

Interactive workshop that offers cross-cultural clinical communications skills and simulations

Curriculum

Years One and Two

  • Basic sciences and body systems
  • Global health coursework and clinical experiences
  • USMLE test preparation

Year Three

  • Clinical clerkships at Soroka Medical Center and other medical centers throughout Israel
  • Simulation lab with emphasis on bedside ultrasound
  • Cross-cultural workshops with renowned experts in health systems, infectious disease and other relevant topics

Year Four

  • Clinical clerkships and electives
  • Eight week global health clerkship at one of our supervised sites around ther world.

Alumni

All requests by alumni for documentation and verification should be made to Roi Hill-Cohen at hillcohe@bgu.ac.il.