The Indiana University School of Medicine’s Global Health Residency Pathway trains the next generation of physicians who see medicine as a way to address inequities across borders and within communities.
Built on longstanding partnerships, including the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) in Kenya, the pathway offers residents structured training, mentorship and field experiences that shape how they approach care in a global context.
For many residents, the decision to train at IU is closely tied to the strength of AMPATH and its decades-long commitment to sustainable, collaborative global health work. The pathway emphasizes long-term partnerships, ethical engagement and practical skills that can be applied both internationally and locally.
Jenny Baenziger, MD, associate director of education for the IU Center for Global Health and leader of the program, said the pathway continues to evolve as interest grows among residents from a range of specialties. “What makes this pathway unique is that residents are not just learning about global health in theory. They are engaging with real partnerships and real communities, and that experience shapes how they practice medicine for the rest of their careers,” Baenziger said.
The newest cohort reflects that mission, bringing diverse personal and professional experiences that have shaped their commitment to global health.
Rebecca Grace Atieno, MBBS, a pediatric resident who earned her medical degree at Maseno University in Kenya, witnessed firsthand the consequences of limited critical care resources for children. “Through my early medical practice in Kenya, I became acutely aware of the scarcity of pediatric and neonatal critical care services. This significant gap leaves critically ill children without the specialized support they require,” she said.
Her decision to come to IU was influenced by what she had already seen the AMPATH partnership accomplish in Kenya. “Seeing how this collaboration strengthened healthcare delivery in Kenya showed me what intentional, equitable global health work can achieve,” Atieno said.
The global health pathway (formerly called the global health track), which began in 2011 as one of IU's first "tracks" for residents, is now one of five two-year co-curricular certificate programs. Since inception, 244 residents from a wide range of specialties have participated in the pathway.
Sarah Bassett, MD, a pediatrics resident, traces her interest in global health back to time spent in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, where she encountered people with limited access to even basic care. “Many of the women I met in villages would ask for various supplies to meet basic healthcare needs. Requests were wide ranging from water and clean blankets for a birthing center to a woman who stopped me while on patrol to ask for dentures,” Bassett said.
Those experiences shaped her long-term goal of working in resource-limited and disaster settings. “I believe access to healthcare is a basic human right and that it is our responsibility to care for one another,” she added.
Residents in the global health pathway meet quarterly to learn about global health issues and receive mentorship from IU faculty members with global health experience. Each resident completes either an international field elective or local-global health rotation as well as a scholarly project. Many residents in the pathway complete a 6-8 week clinical field experience in Kenya.
Prinska Ghimire Wagle, MBBS, an internal medicine resident who grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal, and later moved to California, brings a perspective shaped by both resource-limited and research-focused environments. “During residency, I’ve realized how many of the same disparities I saw growing up exist here in different forms. I’ve cared for patients who struggle with follow-up because of transportation, language barriers, or unstable living situations,” she said. “For me, medicine is not just about treating a disease, but about understanding the bigger picture behind it.”
She sees the pathway as an opportunity to better understand how disparities manifest across settings. “What draws me to the Global Health Pathway is that it’s not just about traveling abroad. It’s about really understanding health disparities and thinking about how to address them in a thoughtful, sustainable way,” she said.
While their paths differ, these residents share a common belief that global health is not limited to international travel. Instead, it is a framework for understanding disparities, strengthening systems and improving outcomes across populations.
The newest members of the pathway include:
- Yao Akpamagbo--family medicine
- Rebecca Atieno--pediatrics
- Sarah Bassett--pediatrics
- Kayla Fong--pediatrics
- Kaylee Fredrickson--pediatrics
- Kiersten Herzog--obstetrics and gynecology
- Mackenzie Johnson--internal medicine
- Taylor Landis--orthopaedic surgery
- Alexis Macha--internal medicine
- Mariana Mena Latuff--pediatrics
- Toka Mohammad--radiation oncology
- McKenna Noe--surgery-general surgery
- Reysha Patel--ophthamology
- Allyson Rose--internal medicine
- Umm Hanee Sadaf--family medicine
- Caleb Sedam--family medicine
- Jenivia Sekar--internal medicine-endrocrinology, diabetes and metabolism
- Ashima Thusu--pediatrics
- Patricia "Annie" Turner--family medicine (IUH Arnett)
- Prinska Wagle--internal medicine (Muncie)
- Sravya Walker--pediatrics
