Steps in getting approval for
Global health experiences for undergraduate medical students
TO:
FROM:
UMass Medical School (UMMS) students, UMMS faculty, Learning Community Advisors
The Office of Undergraduate Medical Education (OUME)
Background: This document details the steps that medical students at UMMS must follow in order to have a
global health experience approved for credit or recognized by UMMS. A global health experience includes all types of
4th and 5th year electives, including clinical, research, public health, community service, cultural, and language
training electives. A global health experience also include experiences such as Flexible Clinical Electives (FCEs) and
global health experiences for students in the summer between the 1st and 2nd year of medical school.
UMMS recognizes and supports the value of students completing global health experiences to aid in professional
development, career planning and service to communities. In order to ensure that global health experiences
provide quality training while also meeting university requirements, students must follow the steps outlined
below in order to receive approval, any applicable financial support, and/or academic credit.
Step #1. Student identifies a global health experience & reviews the UMMS Office of Global Health (OGH)
policies regarding international travel
a) Student identifies a global health experience that matches their interests by investigating and
communicating with different resources, which may include:
i.
Other UMMS students and faculty
ii.
Learning Community (LC) global health specialty advisors
iii.
Sources at the Host Institution that is interested in hosting a UMMS student
iv.
Independent search done by the student
b) Student must review the OGH Policy for International Travel.
c)
As per the OGH policy, students involved in international travel are required to attend the UMMS
Travel Preparation Workshop.
d) As per the OGH policy, students involved in international travel should visit Student Health (508334-2818), Employee Health Services, their Primary Care Provider or the Travel Clinic (508-334-5481)
at least 5 to 6 weeks before departure for immunizations, post-exposure prophylaxis, and other travel
medications.
e) Student should visit the U.S. State Department website to see what countries currently have travel
warnings.
f)
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Students must read the OGH Policy for Special International Travel regarding travel to countries
with U.S. State Department travel warnings. Note that in general, travel to countries with travel
warnings is not allowed for students, unless the student, the UMMS Elective Advisor or other UMMS
faculty member can provide reasonable rationale to OGH for traveling to that country, and the region
where the student would doing the global health experience is not affected by the travel warning.
OGH will take this information into consideration when deciding whether or not to approve the
global health experience.
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Step #2. Student completes a Global Health Experience Request (GHER) Form
a.
The GHER Form is available on the OUME website.
b.
Students must submit a completed GHER Form with the necessary signatures to OUME for approval.
The form should be submitted by email to Colleen Burnham (Colleen.Burnham@umassmed.edu) in
OUME at least three months prior to the experience start date (or as soon as possible for experiences
in Academic Year 2013-2014).
c.
Student must identify a UMMS Elective Advisor: Students must identify a UMMS faculty member
to serve as their UMMS Elective Advisor. Any UMMS faculty member is eligible to be a UMMS
Elective Advisor. The responsibilities of the UMMS Elective Advisor are listed below, and are not
expected to involve a major time commitment:
i.
Review and sign the Global Health Experience Request (GHER) Form. This form asks the
UMMS Elective Advisor to review the description of the student's global health experience and
learning objectives, and deem that they are appropriate for the student's level of training.
ii.
Act as student’s UMMS contact for questions or concerns that cannot be addressed by the
Supervisor at the Host Institution while participating in the global health experience.
iii.
Review the International and Intercultural Education Opportunities Form, which the
student completes at the end of the global health experience, and provides to the UMMS
Elective Advisor. This form provides basic information about the global health experience,
which can help UMMS and future students.
iv.
Review the Global Health Reflection which is written by the student towards the end of the
global health elective or experience, and provides the student the opportunity to reflect on
what they have learned from the experience.
d. Student must identify a Supervisor at the Host Institution: Student must identify a Supervisor at the
Host Institution who will supervise the student at the Host Institution where the global health
experience will be done.
The Host Institution is the organization, agency, school or entity where the student will be doing the
global health experience. (Examples of a Host Institution include: The University in Nicaragua, The
World Health Organization, The León Spanish Language School.)
The Supervisor at the Host Institution typically is the individual who is aware of the student's learning
objectives, is responsible supervising the student during the global health experience, and is a contact
person at the Host Institution for any questions. The Supervisor at the Host Institution also is likely to
be the person to complete the Elective Evaluation Form that will assess the student's performance
during the experience.
e.
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Students should be aware that the GHER Form requires a brief description of the global health
experience and several signatures. Therefore, it is recommended that students start planning at least
four to six months in advance.
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f.
Students should identify what type of agreement between UMMS and the Host Institution is
appropriate. The three types of agreements are:
i. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): An MOU typically is valid for 3 years.
ii. Letter of Agreement (LOA): An LOA typically is valid for 1 year. If a student is doing a
global health experience at a new site that recently has not hosted UMMS students, then
typically a 1-year LOA is completed prior to considering if the two institutions would like to
agree upon an MOU.
Both an LOA and an MOU provide evidence that UMMS and the Host Institution are aware
of the responsibilities associated with hosting a UMMS student
iii. Global Health Experience Notice (GHEN): If the proposed global health experience does
not have any clinical activities, and there is not a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or
Letter of Agreement (LOA) between UMMS and the Host Institution, then the student can
complete a Global Health Experience Notice (GHEN) for the proposed global health
experience, instead of requesting that UMMS and the Host Institution approve an LOA or
MOU.
Before a global health experience can be approved, there must either be:
g.
a.
An MOU or an LOA between UMMS and the Host Institution, or
b.
A GHEN if the proposed global health experience does not have any clinical activities.
If the proposed global health experience will use a GHEN instead of an LOA or MOU, then the
student should help to complete a GHEN. (The GHEN is described in more detail in step #3).
h. If a student has been approved to receive UMMS reimbursement for part(s) of a global health
experience, then the student must purchase their transportation ticket after approval of the GHER
Form. Per UMMS policy, expenditures (e.g., transportation tickets) that are made prior to approval of
the GHER Form cannot be reimbursed.
i.
After completing the GHER Form, the student must submit the completed GHER Form (and the
GHEN, if applicable) to Colleen Burnham (Colleen.Burnham@umassmed.edu) to obtain OUME
approval.
In order to expedite the process of getting a global health experience approved, at the same time that
the student emails Colleen Burnham the GHER Form (and the GHEN, if applicable), then the student
may also do the following two things:
1. If the student knows that the global health experience will need a new Letter of Agreement
(LOA), then the student can start to complete an LOA and email it to Colleen Burnham.
In this case, the student can complete the sections in the template LOA that are highlighted in
yellow (as mentioned in Step #4.b.(3) of this document). Students should keep in mind that not
all global health experiences need an LOA. For example, if there is an existing Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU), then an LOA is not necessary.
2. The student can begin the process for completing a UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization as
described in Step #6 of this document.
j.
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OUME reviews the completed GHER Form by checking that all the required sections of the form
have been completed by the student. If OUME approves the GHER Form, then OUME will email
notice of OUME's approval of the GHER Form, and a PDF version of the GHER Form (and the
GHEN, if applicable) to both:
i.
The student
ii.
The Office of Global Health (OGH) in order to obtain OGH approval of the global health
experience
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k.
OGH reviews the GHER Form and the proposed global health experience: If necessary, OGH verifies
an existing MOU or LOA, or helps UMMS and the Host Institution to complete a new MOU or LOA.
If OGH approves the global health experience, then OGH will email notice of OGH's approval of the
global health experience, and a PDF version of the GHER Form (and the GHEN if applicable, and the
LOA if applicable) to the following:
i.
The student, and
ii.
OUME (to Colleen Burnham at Colleen.Burnham@umassmed.edu),
iii.
The Global Health Pathway Co-Directors (only if the student is in the Global Health
Pathway), and
iv.
The Office of Student Affairs (OSA) at electives@umassmed.edu only if the global health
experience is one that will appear on the student's transcript.

Global health electives and Flexible Clinical Electives (FCEs) will appear on the
student's transcript. Travel between 1st and 2nd year of medical school typically does
not appear on the student's transcript.

After OSA receives notification of OGH's approval of the global health elective or
FCE, the OSA will add the elective to the student's schedule in Peoplesoft.
Step #3. Student completes a Global Health Experience Notice (GHEN), if applicable
a.
If the proposed global health experience does not have any clinical activities (i.e., the student will not
be involved in any direct medical patient care), and there is neither a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU), nor a Letter of Agreement (LOA) between UMMS and the Host Institution,
then the student should complete a Global Health Experience Notice (GHEN).
If there is a MOU or LOA between UMMS and the Host Institution that will be current at the time of
the global health experience, then a GHEN is not necessary for the global health experience.
The GHEN can be used for to global health experiences whose primary purpose is:
o Research pilot projects (e.g., needs assessments, preliminary data collection).

Note that research which has been approved by the UMMS Institutional Review Board
(IRB) should have either an MOU or an LOA between UMMS and the Host Institution, and
therefore it is not sufficient to have a GHEN.
o Cultural (e.g., studying how cultural beliefs among refugees impact their use of medical care)
o Language (e.g., studying medical Spanish)
o Public Health or Community Service (e.g. teaching Basic Life Saving to nurses in Uganda)
b.
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After completing the GHEN, the student should skip to Step #5, since a Letter of Agreement is not
needed if a GHEN is completed.
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Step #4. Student assists UMMS and the Host Institution in completing a Letter of Agreement (LOA), if
applicable
a.
What experiences need an LOA to be completed:
If the proposed experience has a clinical component (i.e., it involves direct medical patient care)
and the site does not have an active MOU with UMMS, then there must be a LOA completed
between UMMS and the Host Institution before the experience can be approved.
If an LOA between UMMS and the Host Institution is not able to be completed and signed, then
students are encouraged to consider a global health experience at a site which already has an
existing MOU between the UMMS and the Host Institution.
b.
For experiences that require an LOA, the following steps should be followed for completing the LOA:
1.
Students can obtain a template LOA from OGH by contacting OGH via email at
globalhealth@umassmed.edu, with "student global health experience" as the subject of the email.
2.
There are two different template LOA documents:
a.
The first template LOA should be used for global health experiences that involve cultural
immersion or language learning.
b.
The second template LOA should be used for global health experiences that involve
clinical or research activities.
c.
If a student needs to complete an LOA, then the student should use the LOA that is most
appropriate for the global health experience. If there are questions regarding which LOA
is most appropriate, then the student should contact OGH.
3.
Students complete the sections in the LOA that are highlighted in yellow.
4.
Students obtain the following information about the proposed experience:
i. The proposed start date and end date of the experience
ii. A brief description of the experience (e.g., "clinical internal medicine rotation at the
University of León Hospital" or "intensive Spanish language training at the León
Language School.")
iii. Contact information (i.e., name, title, mailing address, email address, phone number) for
the person who will be the Coordinating Liaison. As described in the LOA, the
Coordinating Liaison is the person who the Host Institution identifies as the representative
to: (a) serve as a liaison with the responsibility of advancing the activities in the LOA,
and (b) resolve any issues between the Host Institution and UMMS concerning
participating students.
iv. Contact information (i.e., name, title, mailing address, email address, phone number) for
the person at the Host Institution who will be signing the LOA and who is considered to
be the Counterpart to the UMMS Dean. If the Host Institution does not have a Dean, then
this person should be in a position of authority at the Host Institution.
c.
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At least two months before the start of the experience (or one month before the start of the experience
in Academic Year 2013-2014), students should email the following two things to OGH at
globalhealth@umassmed.edu with "student global health experience" as the subject of the email:
1.
the template LOA with the yellow sections completed (and without signatures)
2.
confirmation of the experience (i.e., confirmation of the experience can be provided by
emailing the information mentioned above in Step #4(b)(3)).
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d. OGH will then complete the LOA signature process by doing the following:
i.
OGH obtains the signature of the UMMS Dean on two copies of the LOA.
ii.
OGH then sends two copies to the Host Institution for signature.
iii.
e.
The Host Institution then keeps one copy, and sends a signed copy back to OGH.
Once OGH completes this LOA signature process, approves the GHER Form, and approves the
experience, then OGH will email the completed GHER Form and notice of OGH's approval of the
experience to each of the following:
i.
The student
ii.
OUME (i.e., Colleen Burnham at Colleen.Burnham@umassmed.edu)
iii.
The Global Health Co-Directors (if the student is in the Global Health Pathway)
iv.
The Office of Student Affairs at electives@umassmed.edu
Step #5. Student completes the following steps required by the Office of Student Affairs (OSA)
a) For global health experiences that will take place in the Advance Studies years, the student and their
Learning Community (LC) Mentor should meet to discuss their upcoming Advance Studies year.
The proposed global health experience should be included in the student's Proposed Education Plan
(PEP), which the student and LC Mentor should sign and submit to the OSA via the
electives@umassmed.edu email address.
b) As mentioned in Step #2(k), once the global health experience has been approved by OUME and
OGH, then OGH will notify OSA at electives@umassmed.edu that the experience has been approved.
The OSA will then ensure that the experience is on the student's approved PEP form on file. If so, the
global health experience will be added to the student's official Peoplesoft Schedule.
c)
Before leaving for the experience, the student should ensure that they have received via email an
Elective Evaluation Form from the UMMS Registrar's Office. The Registrar's Office will email the
Elective Evaluation Form to the student before or near the start of the elective. Students should give
the Evaluation Form to the appropriate person at the Host Institution in order to evaluate the
student's performance.
d) At the end of the global health experience, the student will ensure that they or the Supervisor at the
Host Institution submits the Elective Evaluation Form to Colleen Burnham in OUME, who will then
submit the Elective Evaluation Form to the UMMS Registrar office.
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Step #6. Student completes the UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization
a) The student must complete the UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization before traveling and before
purchasing air fare or other tickets for the travel. This applies even if the student will not receive
funding for the travel.
b) The student should send the UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization to Kathy Moylan at the same time as
(or soon after) emailing Colleen Burnham the completed GHER Form.
c)
There are 3 different possible methods for completing the UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization:
1.
Students who have been notified by OUME that they will be receiving some funding from
OUME for their upcoming travel should follow these steps for completing the UMMS PreTravel Authorization:
a) The student emails Kathy Moylan the UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization with the
following information completed:
i.
The top part of the UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization (i.e., Employee Name, Date
of Travel, Trip Destination, Purpose of Trip, Airfare estimate, Travel estimate).
ii.
The student's signature (which will go in the line for Signature of Employee)
b) Kathy Moylan completes the UMMS Pre-travel Authorization by doing the following:
i.
Kathy will complete the remaining information in the UMMS Pre-Travel
Authorization form, by:
a. Kathy will list “OUME” as the Home Department and as the Funding
Department.
b. Kathy will have Dr. Melissa Fischer sign as the Department Head.
c. Kathy will check off the appropriate box among the 4 boxes for "RTF Funded”,
“Other School Funded”, “Grant Funded, if yes”, or “Non-School Funded".
ii.
c)
Kathy will email the completed UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization to the Accounts
Payable Department and to the student.
How and when a student can purchase travel tickets for the global health experience:
Students who are receiving any money from OUME for the upcoming travel likely will
be using the OUME's credit card account. The student should email or call Kathy
Moylan (office #: 508-856-5643) to discuss how to purchase travel tickets as soon as both
of the following two things have happened:
i.
The student has received an email from Kathy Moylan with the student's UMMS
Pre-Travel Authorization containing all the necessary information and signatures.
ii.
The student has been notified by OGH (as per Step #4e of this document) that
OGH has approved the global health experience.
d) Kathy Moylan discusses with the student how to purchase the travel ticket, which likely
will be done using OUME's credit card account. Kathy can give the student the
necessary credit card account information.
e) The student can then purchase an economy air flight ticket using the OUME credit card,
and then email Kathy the airfare confirmation which Kathy needs to submit with the
credit card statement.
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f)
2.
In cases where OUME is funding part of the travel ticket, but not 100%, then the ticket
price minus the amount of funding from OUME is considered the "balance". Kathy will
notify the student the "balance" amount which the student must pay to OUME.
Students who will be traveling using their own personal finances and have no guaranteed
UMMS funding (which includes students who plan to ask for reimbursement once they
return from their travel), should follow these steps for completing the UMMS Pre-Travel
Authorization:
a) The student completes the 1-page UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization, but leaves the
Signature of Department Head blank.
i. The student enters “OUME” as the Home Department.
ii. The student enters “Dr. Melissa Fischer” as the Name of the Department Head.
iii. The student enters “OUME” as the Funding Department, even though OUME may
not be providing any funding.
iv. The student leaves the 4 boxes blank. The four boxes are: “RTF Funded”, “Other
School Funded”, “Grant Funded, if yes”, or “Non-School Funded, if yes”.
b) The student sends the UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization to Kathy.
c)
Kathy will make a note on the form that "no funds are provided at this time".
d) Kathy will have Dr. Melissa Fischer sign as the Department Head.
e) Kathy will email the completed UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization to the Accounts
Payable Department and to the student.
3.
Students who are traveling using funding from a department other than OUME, or from a
non-UMMS source should follow these steps for completing the UMMS Pre-Travel
Authorization:
a) The student completes the 1-page UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization, but leaves the
Signature of Department Head blank.
i. The student checks off the appropriate box among the four choices: “RTF Funded”,
“Other School Funded”, “Grant Funded, if yes”, or “Non-School Funded, if yes”. If
the student is not sure what is the appropriate box, then they should ask the
Department that is providing them funding.
ii. The student enters “OUME” as the "Home Department".
iii. The student enters “Dr. Melissa Fischer” as the "Name of the Department Head."
iv. The student enters the name of the "Funding Department" (which in this case is not
OUME).
v. The student gets the "Signature of the Funding Department Head (if different)."
b) The student sends the UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization to Kathy Moylan.
c)
Kathy will have Dr. Melissa Fischer sign as the "Department Head (if different)."
d) Kathy will email the completed UMMS Pre-Travel Authorization to the Accounts
Payable Department and to the student.
d) Students may purchase travel tickets only after both of the following two things have happened:
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1.
The student has received an email from Kathy Moylan with the student's UMMS Pre-Travel
Authorization containing all the necessary information and signatures.
2.
The student has been notified by OGH (as per Step #4e of this document) that OGH has
approved the global health experience.
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Step #7. Student registers their travel with the U.S. State Department
As per OGH policy, the student must register travel through the U.S. State Department's Smart Traveler
Enrollment Program (formerly known as “Travel Registration” or “Registration with Embassies”).
Step #8. Student completes an on-line International Travel Registration Form
As per OGH policy, students must complete the on-line International Travel Registration Form on the
OGH website: http://www.umassmed.edu/globalhealth/registration/index.aspx
At the end of the on-line form, the student will be asked to confirm that they have registered their travel
with the U.S. State Department (as mentioned above in Step #7).
In compliance with the OGH Policy for International Travel, anyone traveling under the UMMS auspices
must complete this travel registration form. Once your registration has been approved, you will receive a
copy of the AIG travel insurance policy number and brochure from the OGH. (AIG is the insurance
company that provides the travel insurance.)
Step #9. Student attends a UMMS Travel Preparation Workshop
a.
As per the OGH Policy for International Travel, students must traveling internationally must attend a
UMMS Travel Preparation Workshop which are sponsored by OUME, OGH and Student Health Services.
Step #10. After returning from the global health experience, students do the things listed below
a.
Complete a Global Health Reflection, which is written by the student towards the end of the global
health experience, and provides the opportunity to reflect on what was learned from the experience.
o
Students can follow the guidance on the 1-page guideline for this Global Health Reflection.
b. Complete the 3-page International and Intercultural Education Opportunities Form
o
c.
If the student is traveling to multiple countries, they should submit separate forms for each
country.
Email the completed Global Health Reflection and the International and Intercultural Education
Opportunities Form to your UMMS Elective Advisor and ask him/her if they recommend any changes
before the student submits it on the UMMS Library's eScholarship@UMMS website as a resource for
UMMS and other students.
d. Submit the Global Health Reflection and the International and Intercultural Education Opportunities
Form electronically to the UMMS Library’s eScholarship@UMMS website
(http://escholarship.umassmed.edu.ezproxy.umassmed.edu/intmeded). These two things serve as a
resource for UMMS and other students. Students must create an account in order to use the UMMS
Library’s eScholarship@UMMS website for the first time.
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e.
f.
Complete a Site Information Form (SIF):
If the student did a global health experience that had a clinical, research, public health or
community service component, then the student must complete a Clinical and Research Site
Information Form (CRSIF).
o
If the student did a global health experience that was a language or cultural experience (and
did not have a clinical, research, public health or community service component), then the
student must complete a Cultural Immersion Site Information Form (CISIF).
The student notifies OGH and OUME:

g.
o
The student notifies OGH and OUME by sending an email to Colleen Burnham in OUME
(Colleen.Burnham@umassmed.edu) and to OGH at globalhealth@umassmed.edu with "student
global health experience" as the subject of the email) that includes the following:
i.
the completed CRSIF or CISIF form
ii.
notification that the student has submitted the Global Health Reflection and the
International and Intercultural Education Opportunities Form electronically to the UMMS
Library’s eScholarship@UMMS website after the UMMS Elective Advisor has reviewed them.
Ensure that the Elective Evaluation Form gets delivered to OUME:
o
As mentioned above in Step #5(c) and #5(d), the Elective Evaluation Form must be
completed by the Supervisor at the Host Institution, and then should be submitted to Colleen
Burnham via mail, e-mail, or hand-delivered.
o
Colleen Burnham will forward the completed Elective Evaluation Form to the UMMS
Registrar's office once she receives the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
o
the Elective Evaluation Form,
the student's Global Health Reflection,
the student's International and Intercultural Education Opportunities Form.
the student's CRSIF or CISIF.
After the UMMS Registrar office receives the Elective Evaluation Form, and Colleen
Burnham has received all four documents listed above, then the student can then receive
credit (and/or reimbursement, if applicable) for the global health experience.
h. Getting reimbursed for a global health experience (if applicable):
In some cases, before completing a global health experience, a student may receive notification that they
are eligible for reimbursement for specific expenses. Only expenses incurred AFTER the full approval of
the GHER Form are eligible for reimbursement. UMMS students and faculty cannot purchase their
airplane ticket (or their tickets for other forms of transportation) prior to date of approval or it will not be
reimbursed.
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