Adam Lee Goldstein transformed an interest in student perspectives on global health into an invitation to present at the 2007 European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health in Amsterdam. Sponsored by the Federation of the Societies of Tropical Medicine and International Health, the annual conference featured student presenters and health experts from across the globe.

Goldstein’s research involved polling MSIH students for their top five objectives for essential international health and medicine (IHM) curriculum. More than 97 percent of the 283 suggestions revolved around ten general objective areas. Each objective area was given specific sub-themes and an analysis of the qualitative data was conducted.

“If we know what priorities are important, we can optimize the learning experience,” said Goldstein, a third year student. “With this project, I wanted to see if what we see is important, and compare it to the realities of the field.”

While medical schools generally offer optional IHM training for students, Goldstein concluded that increased curriculum content would increase the likelihood that medical students would work in underserved communities, and help decrease health care inequalities. Goldstein, a graduate in Geoscience from George Washington University, spent time working in Ethiopia before attending MSIH.

“The goal is to train the best we can train. “Wherever you go in the world, there’s a particular group that’s underserved,” he said. ”I want to serve those groups of people.”