Iquitos, Peru
Spring 2024
Description
Note: Students must have strong conversational Spanish skills in order to participate in this elective.
The UCLA Global Health Program has established strong relationships at the Regional Hospital of Loreto in Iquitos, in the Amazon region of northern Peru. Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest, and has been described as the densest city in the world that cannot be reached by road. The government’s Regional Hospital serves over a million residents from the city and its surrounding rural communities in the Amazon basin. Some patients travel by boat from remote villages for over two weeks to reach medical attention.
We are pleased to offer a clinical rotation in Iquitos in the spring of 2024. This global health elective will provide broad exposure to an extremely underserved population, with opportunities to see patients at both the Regional Hospital of Loreto and a highvolume outpatient setting.
At the Regional Hospital, students may choose to rotate on a general pediatrics ward service and/or an adult infectious diseases inpatient service. Some of the most frequently seen diagnoses include pneumonia, diarrhea and dehydration, tuberculosis, dengue fever, malaria, HIV/AIDS, trauma, seizures, meningitis, snake bites, burns, leptospirosis, and Zika virus infections.
UCLA medical students train and provide critical care in the Amazon.
At the Clinica de Nanay, students may see patients of all ages for both preventive medicine and acute illness visits. They may also participate in Ob-Gyn and emergency medical services at the Clinica de Nanay. A highlight of the experience at the Clinica de Nanay is joining the public health team on home visits (by boat or by foot) in the community pictured below.
While in Iquitos, students are supervised by attending physicians in pediatrics, primary care medicine and adult infectious diseases. At the Regional Hospital, students will work alongside the equivalent of transitional residents and pediatric residents, and with medical students from the Universidad Nacional de la Amazona Peruana.
The rotation in Iquitos has been developed with formal goals and objectives. We are seeking students with an interest in caring for underserved populations, and those with enthusiasm for global health, tropical medicine, and health care delivery in resource poor settings. Students will be expected to demonstrate the highest level of maturity, professionalism, and cultural humility.
Details
Students will receive roundtrip airfare and $1000 of additional support for the Iquitos clinical rotation. These funds will offset the cost of in-country accommodation and food. Students will need to cover the remaining expenses from other funds, as the cost of this rotation will likely exceed the amount provided through the Global Health Program.
Interviews for this elective will take place on Saturday, September 9, 2023, and limited time window(s) after September 9th. Students selected for this rotation are required to participate in a mandatory full-day pre-departure training program in Los Angeles on Saturday, February 10, 2024. Upon return home from Peru, students will be expected to provide feedback through written evaluations and to participate in a mandatory lunchtime feedback session on Thursday, May 30, 2024. Separate from this, students will be asked to attend a site-specific debrief to be arranged upon return from Peru and prior to graduation.
Rotation dates for this elective have been confirmed. Students applying to this three-week elective must be able to commit to this elective from March 18, 2024, through April 5, 2024. Note that a March 18 start date will require departure from the U.S. by March 16, 2024, at the latest.
Questions regarding this rotation should be directed to Dr. Traci Wells at TWells@mednet.ucla.edu.