Undergraduate Students Traveling to London to Learn About Health Systems Around the World
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Sixteen undergraduates won’t be seeing a royal wedding as they travel to London this May but they will get an opportunity of a lifetime to learn about the United Kingdom’s health system. UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Department of Health Policy & Management is sponsoring a one-week program exploring the organization, financing, challenges and future directions of the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS).
Six of the sixteen students traveling to London are health policy and management students. The remaining students are from other departments within the Gillings School and UNC’s School of Arts and Sciences. This week-long excursion will begin on May 13. Students will receive an in-depth introduction to the global model for health services delivery and have an opportunity to compare and contrast the health systems in the U.K. and the U.S. Students will spend substantial time visiting London-area health facilities, visiting historical sites, and meeting with area experts, including faculty from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King’s College London.
“Our HPM undergraduates have for a long time expressed a strong desire to travel to countries to learn about other health systems,” says Suzanne Havala Hobbs, DrPH, clinical assistant professor in health policy and management. “London is the perfect destination because the NHS is undergoing rapid changes and creates an interesting opportunity to compare the U.K. health system with that in the U.S.”
Faculty preceptors from UNC’s Department of Health Policy and Management include: Dr. Sandra Greene, Sheps Center for Health Services Research, Dr. Suzanne Havala Hobbs, director of the Executive Doctoral Program in Health Leadership, Dr. Tom Ricketts, deputy director, Sheps Center for Health Services Research, and Melanie Studer, program director of the Bachelor of Science in Public Health.
Exploration of the U.K. health system will be complemented with special cultural activities, including a city tour, a visit to the John Snow Pub, epicenter of the 1854 cholera outbreak and the site of the infamous Broad Street pump, and trips to the British Museum, London Theater and other attractions.
“We are fortunate to have strong relationships with other top schools in the U.K. such as the London School of Hygiene, Tropical Medicine, and King’s College London. Students will benefit from meeting faculty from those schools as well as getting out in the field to visit hospitals and other points of interest in London.”
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