Global Study Programs
The School of Public Health has set goals to advance population health by engaging with communities worldwide. The Global Outreach Team, or “GO Team,” was formed in 2008 to help in creating this community of global learners. The GO Team collaborates across schools, organizations and countries to expand global public health education and research. The team works to provide international opportunities to students (see highlights below) and to bring new audiences to programs on campus.
Our Partners
The GO Team partners with colleges and schools throughout the Academic Health Center, including:
Our Mission & Vision
The health professions are entering a new era of global delivery systems. This changing professional environment challenges our land grant mission to:
“Extend, apply, and exchange knowledge between the University and society by applying scholarly expertise to community problems, by helping organizations and individuals respond to their changing environments, and by making the knowledge and resources created and preserved at the University accessible to the citizens of the state, the nation, and the world.”
We’re developing an infrastructure and culture of exchange to make real the university mission:
Extend knowledge: Advance a learning platform that delivers technology enhanced online and onsite short-term intensive educational experiences as meets the educational delivery needs of a global workforce.
Apply knowledge: Engage experts among the University of Minnesota AHC faculty and global communities to support a diversity of learning needs.
Exchange knowledge: Partner with institutions in select countries to prepare the next generation of health professionals where they will live, work and play.
Past Global Outreach Highlights
GO Thailand: Global Health Institute: Thailand took place in January/February 2012 at Chiang Mai University. The study abroad opportunity focused on One Health Leadership during week one. During the second week students were able to choose from the following tracks: cross-species surveillance, comparative public health systems and policies, analytic epidemiology and field pathology. Watch a video about the Thailand visit
GO Uganda: Global Health Institute: Uganda took place in August 2010 at Makerere University in Kampala. The intensive study abroad opportunity focused on zoonotic disease, global public health concepts and practices, participatory epidemiology and applied biostatistics within the framework of One Health. Participants learned about the skills required for health professionals to implement one health strategies for optimal health.
GO Uruguay: The Farm to Table Study Program: Uruguay was presented by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Animal Health and Food Safety and the Global Initiative for Food Systems Leadership, together with the Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay. Participants explored the food system from farm-to-table in Uruguay while considering aspects of animal welfare and health, food safety, and public health.
GO Europe: This weeklong course took place in February 2009. Small group sessions and discussions complemented visits to a variety of intergovernmental organizations. The course began in Geneva, Switzerland. Initial visits involved the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization. The course then moved to Paris for a visit to the World Organization for Animal Health, and on to Rome for a day with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
GO India: Global Health: India took place in March 2009, and provided an opportunity for students from the U.S. and India to meet with faculty from the University of Minnesota and educational institutions in India to examine the impact of globalization on health. Courses were held on the campus of St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore. The program included field trips to Mysore, Halebid, Belur and Mumbai.