Page 33 - UD Magazine Vol. 31 No. 1

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY HOPE ONELANGSY | MADRID
World Health:
Up Close + Personal by Amy Cherry
Within 10 minutes of stepping foot inside a hospital in Italy, Ryan O’Connor, HS25, saw her first live birth. She’d see two more, including a C-section, that same day.
The occupational therapy major still marvels at her experiences inside San Martino Hospital, a teaching hospital in Genoa where she and 19 other students spent the bulk of their Winter Session.
Aptly named, UD’s “International Healthcare Practicum” study abroad course affords undergraduates like O’Connor a firsthand look at care overseas. Through the class, they shadow doctors in surgery, neonatology, gynecology, urology, neurology, emergency and orthopedics.
Meanwhile, in Spain, budding athletic trainers
take a course on “International Perspectives of Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy,” where, among their many experiences, they watch Olympians train inside the Madrid Olympic Training Center.
Such unparalleled, immersive experiences are part of a wider effort in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) to expand students’ understanding of global health practices, ensuring UD graduates provide optimal care in an intercultural, interconnected world.
CHS Dean William Farquhar and Thomas Buckley, associate professor of kinesiology and applied physiology, led 32 students on the Barcelona trip, an experience Farquhar credits with strengthening student connections and bolstering programs to facilitate career success.
“Immersive experiences like study abroad expand
a student’s mindset,” Farquhar says. “Travel provides an opportunity to view the world through an expanded lens, and then apply this new perspective to any field of study.”
Enriching cultural perspectives can come from unexpected places, too—like a Flamenco dancing class or a soccer game in Barcelona, the latter of which taught Victoria Ciatto, HS25, the power of psychology in stadium design. (“Barcelona’s locker room is full of bright colors, while the visitors’ locker room is dark and dim,” recalls sports health major Ciatto. “The walls outside are full of pictures of Barcelona wins.”)
Nearly 2,000 miles away, students in the Italian hospital observed surgeries “so close you could
touch a body,” O’Connor says. Emma Cunningham, HS24, witnessed the hospital’s first-ever robotic knee replacement surgery, a four-hour process in which the
medical staff “explained the entire procedure in English and even took the time to teach us every step of the way.”
“It’s a one-of-a-kind experience,” says faculty director Saskia Richter, who led the Italy study abroad trip and directs UD’s Medical Scholars Program, a dual-track premedical eight-year academic program.
Hospital-based study abroad also affords a rare glimpse into Europe’s universal healthcare system. But “the grass isn’t always greener,” says Matthew Carr, HS25. “Major necessary surgeries can take weeks in Europe.”
Ultimately, students emerge from their time abroad with a greater awareness and appreciation for the world and their place in it.
“My experience makes me wish I knew another language, as most of the doctors here speak three,” says O’Connor. “I know my future patients will come from different backgrounds and ethnicities, so this experience gave me a new perspective.”
Study abroad experiences help broaden students’ understanding of global health
Natalie Stein, HS23, left, and Sharon Kung, AS22.
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