NEWS
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
WVSOM Strengthens Effort to Encourage Global Rotations for Med Students
There was a time when West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine( WVSOM) students were providing care to patients from Bangladesh to Bolivia and Sierra Leone to South Korea. When the world was navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, international rotations ceased.
WVSOM is quickly moving toward reestablishing its international presence with the newly created Rural and International Medicine( RIM) Center, formerly known as the Center for International Medicine and Cultural Concerns, established in 2009.
“ During COVID, the world completely shut down, so we weren’ t able to do some of the international rotations or medical service trips that had been done before,” said Mark Waddell, DO, who has been charged with growing the center and increasing student interest in international or rural rotations.“ It became apparent to WVSOM that we needed to step onto the global stage again so we started picking things back up in 2023.”
Clinical rotations are the time students spend in their third and fourth years of medical school at clinics, hospitals, and other sites applying their knowledge in real-world settings.
When international rotations were at their peak, more than 20 WVSOM students were completing them during their clinical years.
In 2024, five students and one faculty member from WVSOM’ s chapter of the Christian Medical and Dental Association traveled to the Dominican Republic for a mission trip, and 19 students and two faculty members from the school’ s chapter of DOCARE provided care in Peru. Additionally, four students completed elective international rotations in Honduras, Costa Rica, and Mexico.
In 2025, three service trips are planned— two of which taking place during spring break— in addition to four confirmed international electives and two more expected.
For Waddell, expanding partnerships with international organizations is more important than ensuring the desired number of students participate in global rotations.
“ I want to be affiliated with about 12 different organizations that provide opportunities for international electives all over the world, so students in their third and especially fourth year will be able to go anywhere in the world to experience other cultures and ways of doing things,” Waddell said.
These organizations are known for providing humanitarian or faith-based international work, similar to Doctors Without Borders or Samaritan’ s Purse, and have ties to the United States with established international infrastructures.
“ We want to be able to build and arrange visits so patients will eventually be able to have a good continuity of care and it’ s not just a one-and-done experience,” Waddell said.“ We have to have organizations that have sound infrastructures to partner with. Our resources are the students, who have so much enthusiasm and intelligence, and we plug into what’ s already there to provide better care.”
24 • www. wvsma. org