VANDERBILT GLOBAL EMERGENCY MEDICINE FELLOWSHIP

Vanderbilt University

We will not be interviewing for academic year 2025. We will be accepting applications for academic year 2026 position! Please check back in the spring of 2025 for more information. Thank you!

The mission of Vanderbilt's Division of Global Emergency Medicine is to collaborate with international partners to extend the department's vision of discovering, teaching and delivering patient centered emergency care to low and middle income countries through the development of locally sustainable emergency medical systems.

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Fellowship Experience

The mission of Vanderbilt's Division of Global Emergency Medicine is to collaborate with international partners to extend the department's vision of discovering, teaching and delivering patient centered emergency care to low and middle income countries through the development of locally sustainable emergency medical systems.

Our primary international partnership is at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation in Guyana, South America. In conjunction with our local Guyanese partners, we have developed an emergency medicine residency training program and have graduated eight classes of residents who are now working as the first emergency medicine trained physicians in the country. Our global health fellow spends a significant portion of time in Guyana, working clinically, providing didactic and bedside teaching to our Guyanese resident physicians, assisting in local projects and completing a scholarly project.

Our Global EM Division consists of fellowship trained faculty members who have experience working in low and middle income countries. All of our division members are committed to working and teaching in Guyana on a regular basis. Areas of expertise among our division faculty members include EMS system development, emergency medicine residency education, curriculum development,  emergency ultrasound and simulation. Our fellowship is flexible based on the needs/interests of each fellow and the curriculum will be developed after mentoring/discussion with both fellowship director and division director.

Opportunities for ongoing global EM project involvement:
 - Global EM systems development in resource limited setting
 - Global EM residency training program development
 - Global EM residency curriculum innovation/modification
 - Global EMS system development and education
 - Global EM Fellowship development and implementation
 - Simulation curriculum development and implementation
 - POCUS in resource limited setting
 - Operations and administrative guidance in resource limited setting

Fellowship Curriculum

The goal of the Global Emergency Medicine fellowship is to train emergency medicine residency graduates in the challenging and broad field of global health. We will ensure that our fellows get an extensive and individualized exposure to diverse areas of global health including international emergency medicine development and education, global health policy, tropical medicine, humanitarian aid and research.

Our fellows spend between three to five months abroad each year working on various projects and training. The main focus of the fieldwork involves active participation in our ongoing EM residency development project in Guyana. The exact focus of the fellow’s project will be tailored to the fellow’s interests.

The fellowship can be a one or two year fellowship, depending on the individual fellow applicant. Formal education is discussed with each fellow applicant and the educational plan is made in conjunction with the interests and future goals of the fellow. An MPH program or equivalent is encouraged of 2 year fellows. The external program at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) or other online programs are a good option given the travel requirements of the fellowship. Fellows may take a tropical medicine diploma course. Options include the Gorgas Course in Peru, the University of Minnesota/CDC program or the East Africa Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Fellows are required to conduct at least one research or scholarly project during the fellowship. We have excellent support from the division of EM research. Collaboration with researchers at the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health is also an option. Fellows are expected to write a manuscript of publishable quality.

Global EM fellows receive a Vanderbilt clinical fellow instructor appointment at 0.5FTE and work in the Vanderbilt ED as an attending physician supervising/teaching medical students and residents.
 

Projects

Project Name & Description Details
Georgetown Public Hospital EM Residency Simulation Curriculum Development
The current COVID-19 pandemic has made it challenging for Vanderbilt University Medical Center Emergency Medicine faculty to provide in-person education to Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation EM residents. We have conducted a Needs Assessment of the instructor and target learner populations to contextualize the most relevant, feasible, and appropriate educational content for a Simulation Curriculum for GPHC EM residents. We aim to identify in which topics GPHC residents most want and need further training, to help optimize the development and delivery of this simulation content either in person or by a virtual platform.
Global Ultrasound
The Global Health Division and the ultrasound division have collaborated on a number of projects. The projects have ranged from helping acquire ultrasound equipment, training in core emergency medicine ultrasound applications, development of a structured ultrasound curriculum for Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, and exploration of innovative ultrasound applications. Our collaborations and training sessions have ranged from local partners in Nashville, physicians throughout Guyana, Grenada, Ecuador, Nepal, and American Samoa.

Alumni

Brian Bales
Brian Bales
Assistant Professor
Shannon Langston
Shannon Langston
Assistant Professor
Jordan Rupp
Jordan Rupp
Assistant Professor
Tiffany Alexander
Tiffany Alexander
Assistant Professor
Kristen Dettorre
Kristen Dettorre
Assistant Professor
Jamie Cirbus
Jamie Cirbus
Assistant Professor
Joseph Reardon
Joseph Reardon
Assistant Professor
Angela Schafer
Angela Schafer
Emergency Medicine Physician
Sean Boaglio
Sean Boaglio
Assistant Professor

Contacts

Kristen Dettorre
Kristen Dettorre
Program Director

Email Contact

Additional Application / Interview Information

Interviews will be conducted from August to September and dates are flexible to accommodate applicants' schedules. All interviews will be virtual format.
Application Criteria
Applicants must be board certified or board eligible graduates from an ACGME accredited emergency medicine residency. If you are interested in applying to our program, please let us know!
Application Process

All applications must be submitted by the application deadline through the SAEM Application Portal button below. Please note, you must also register for the NRMP Match

Please send inquiries via email to kristen.dettorre@vumc.org (fellowship director) or john.p.rohde@vumc.org (division director).


Application Deadline
Not applicable for academic year 2025 - will be interviewing for 2026.
Interview Date
TBD
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