The International and Global Health Office (IGHO) at the Faculty of Medicine, formerly known as the Office of Internationalization, has launched a new website that outlines a refreshed mandate.
The new strategic direction of IGHO aligns with that of the Faculty as well as the University of Ottawa International Office, and delivers clear, measurable goals for partnership development and engagement with stakeholders for international and global health initiatives.
This reengineered mandate is designed on the basis of outcomes from the consultations led by the Faculty’s Task Force on Internationalization and Global Health chaired by Dr. Mark Walker, which reported its findings in late 2018 and recommended that “internationalization” and “global health” be treated as two distinct areas of international activities.
Going forward, IGHO’s mandate will thus focus on:
- International activities: Develop and maintain strategic international partnerships that help support and further the Faculty of Medicine and University priorities, while ensuring that all partnerships meet a minimum set of criteria. These criteria include: i) alignment and value proposition with the strategic direction and benefits to stakeholders; ii) risks and adherence to ethical standards; and iii) the financial impact on the Faculty and University.
- Global health: Improving the health of populations in a global context with a priority on establishing Global Health at home (in Canada) programs. By expanding the educational mandate and guiding the development of programs that meet our social accountability framework, the IGHO aims to partner with local, regional and northern communities. The IGHO will also put efforts toward increasing the number of trainees that accompany faculty members on their global health missions for research and educational projects.
Along with this new mandate, the IGHO’s new website aims to be more transparent and user-friendly. The site presents information on the Faculty’s main international programs, the step-by-step procedures for partnership approval, and lists services it offers to the Faculty of Medicine community. It will eventually include a (searchable) database of international student mobility sites and international agreements of the Faculty of Medicine.
“Our office supports the international and global health activities of all our learners, staff and professors; whether they are travelling abroad for research, elective placements, fellowships or teaching opportunities as well as supporting global health at home initiatives,” said Diane Cyr, Interim Manager of IGHO.
The office’s short and long-term operational objectives will be shared with the University of Ottawa community through the next Faculty of Medicine Status Report.
