Family Medicine

Global Health

This valuable fellowship provides physicians with the skills necessary to assist with the development of pre-doctoral, residency, clinical, and research education in emerging health care systems.

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Global Health

This valuable fellowship provides physicians with the skills necessary to assist with the development of pre-doctoral, residency, clinical, and research education in emerging health care systems.

Group of doctors outside of Kenyan Hospital The Brown Global Health Faculty Development Fellowship was started in 2010 to provide FM physicians with the additional global health, health equity, and faculty development skills necessary to assist with the development of pre-doctoral, residency, clinical, and research education in underserved settings locally and globally. As an academic family medicine department with a long history of involvement in global health, the Department of Family Medicine at Brown is particularly well situated to provide faculty development in this area. This fellowship was developed and is funded through a unique, sustainable collaboration between Thundermist Community Health Center, Blackstone Valley Community Health Center (BVCHC), and the Department of Family Medicine. The community health centers, the family medicine department and the hospitals associated with each provide a rich learning environment. Thundermist Health Center and BVCHC were chosen because in addition to their care of underserved communities in Rhode Island, their staff is actively involved in global health.

Overall Aim of the Program:

To prepare family physicians for future leadership roles in global health, health equity, and medical education.
To create a partnership with local community health centers to promote shared commitment to the underserved.
To work in concert with other undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate global health training programs at Brown University.
To provide advanced maternal child health skills for those wishing to pursue a joint global health and maternal child health fellowship
To train US faculty who can serve as interim faculty for emerging family medicine residencies globally until each program is able to graduate their own faculty.
To work together as faculty and fellow family physicians to educate ourselves and strive towards anti-racism and decolonizing global health in order to achieve health equity locally and globally.

Specific Educational Goals

By the end of the fellowship programs, fellows will demonstrate the additional clinical, teaching, scholarly and leadership skills necessary for work as a family physician in resource limited settings

Eligibility Requirements

Graduate of an accredited family medicine residency program in the US
Excellent academic and clinical record
Commitment to the care of underserved populations
Experience providing health care in international, resource-limited settings
Demonstrated teaching and leadership experience with strong leadership potential
Dedicated to self-directed, lifelong learning
To apply to the joint Global Maternal Child Health Fellowship please apply send copies of your application to both the global health and the maternal child health fellowship directors.

We offer two different fellowships one with a focus on operative obstetrics and one with a focus on faculty development. Fellows are based at two of the three Thundermist clinics and one BVCHC clinic. The West Warwick office at Thundermist and the BVCHC sites are for fellows pursuing the Global Health Faculty Development Fellowship, and the Woonsocket office is the site for fellows pursing a joint Global Maternal Child Health Fellowship.

FM global health fellow collaborate with residents and faculty from the Brown Residency International/Global Health Training Pathway (BRIGHT), that includes trainees from the Departments of Family Medicine, Medicine, Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, Obstetrics and Infectious Disease. Joint sessions are also held with FM Maternal Child Health Fellows. We have partnerships with programs in Kenya, Honduras, Nicaragua and our faculty volunteer at Clinica Esperanza in Rhode Island. See attached brochure for more information.

For more information, please contact:

Lynn Menatian call 401-921-7981 ext. 77981

Application Requirements 2021-2022

**Please note, we are planning to accept applications for the joint GH/MCH fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year. However, please contact Dr. Szkwarko prior to preparing your joint application. We are accepting applications for the GH faculty development track for 2022-2023. Both fellowships are two years in duration. We will no longer be offering one year fellowship options.

***Applicants must be board eligible in Family Medicine. We are unable to offer J1 visas for 2022-2023.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Please send your CV, a personal statement, and three letters of recommendation (one by your program/residency director) to Lynn Menatian by Monday, October 18th, 2021. In your personal statement, please include reflections on on what decolonizing global health means to you and your vision for your personal involvement in global health and health equity work post-fellowship.

Interview Process and Timeline

Application Deadline: Monday, October 18, 2021 by midnight EST

Interviews (It is possible that these will be virtual in 2021 given the COVID pandemic): Rolling until November 2021 on select Tuesdays

First offers for fellowship positions: Friday, December 13^th, 2021

Our Current Fellows and Faculty

Daria Szkwarko, DO, MPH

Director, Global Health Fellowship, Assistant Professor (Family Medicine), Brown University

[email protected]

Preventive Medicine Fellowship: University of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA
Family Medicine Residency: Brown Family Medicine Residency
DO, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine; MPH, University of Massachusetts; BS, Lafayette College

Dr. Szkwarko is the Director of the Brown FM Global Health Fellowship and the co-director for resident scholarly development. She also serves as the departmental faculty mentor for the Brown Residency International/Global Health Training pathway. At Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown Unversity, she serves as the co-director for the Health Systems Strengthening 3 course as part of the primary care population medicine pathway and the co-director of the women’s reproductive health scholarly concentration. She completed her residency at Brown in 2015 and went on to complete a preventive medicine fellowship at the University of Massachusetts during which she received her Masters in Public Health and further explored her interests in global health and research. She is the Family Medicine lead for the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) - a large academic collaboration between Moi University in western Kenya, Brown University, and several other North American institutions that aims to strengthen healthcare, improve education, and expand research efforts in the region. Her research interests are in TB prevention globally. She has been involved in child TB contact management in Kenya, and she is particularly interested in identifying and studying strategies that can improve the various steps throughout the child contact management care cascade globally. Domestically, she is interested in improving latent TB infection testing and treatment in primary care. She is the course director for the University of Massachusetts latent TB infection ECHO. Most recently, she received a mentored research award through the Advance-CTR to conduct a mixed-methods evaluation of a latent TB infection ECHO in Rhode Island. She is passionate about family medicine physicians engaging more in research to improve care among underserved populations globally. Outside of medicine, she enjoys running, backpacking yoga, meditation, and gardening.
Fadya El Rayess, MD, MPH

Residency Director, Associate Professor (Clinical), Family Medicine

Family Medicine Residency: University of New MexicoMD/MPH, George Washington University School of Medicine; BA, Cornell University

Fadya El Rayess has been a member of the residency leadership team since 2011, serving as Assistant and Associate Residency Director before becoming Residency Director in 2017. A National Health Service Corps Scholar, Dr. El Rayess worked in RI community health centers for 12 years prior to joining the residency leadership. She is a 1999 graduate of the University of New Mexico Family Medicine Residency and completed a Faculty Leadership Development Fellowship at Brown. She also has an MPH in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from George Washington University. Her clinical interests include global health, advocacy, health disparities, reproductive health, LGBT health and care of immigrants and refugees. She is the Co-Director of the Scholarly Concentration on Caring for the Underserved at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and volunteer faculty for the student clinic at Clinica Esperanza. Dr. El Rayess is responsible for the department’s global health initiatives for residents and the Family Medicine Global health Fellowship. She serves on the Brown Council for Diversity in Medicine and Brown University’s Global Health Initiative Executive Committee. In 2009, Dr. El Rayess and her family spent a year in Lesotho, Africa, where –as assistant residency director – she provided educational support for the development of a Family Medicine Residency in a small, resource-limited medical school. An avid kayaker and potter, she enjoys running, yoga, reading women’s literature in translation and spending time with her family.
Chelsea Graham, DO

Community Attending, Thundermist Health Center , Assistant Professor, Family Medicine

Global Health Fellowship: Brown Family Medicine Residency
Family Medicine Residency: Brown Family Medicine Residency
DO, Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine; BS, Simmons College

Dr. Graham is a recent graduate of the Brown Family Medicine Residency. She completed a Global Health Fellowship in 2019 and practices family medicine with a focus on gender and sexual health at Thundermist Health Center. She is also a clinical instructor for family medicine residents at Thundermist. In addition, she has done teaching surrounding family planning in Mexico where she collaborates with Compañeros En Salud/Partners In Health. She is a bilingual provider and volunteers at Clinica Esperanza. She is also involved in anti-racism work with Alpert Medical School and completed their BASCE fellowship in 2019: Brown Advocates For Social Change and Equity.
Shelly Verma, DO

Global Health Fellow, 2019-2021, Family Medicine Residency: Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, MD, Touro University , BS: Loyola University

During my medical training, I participated in global health experiences in South Africa, Haiti, and India. Through my experiences, I realized that there was more to learn and the reason I chose to pursue fellowship was to learn how to create collaborative sustainable relationships with international partners. Currently in fellowship, I am pursuing a Masters in Global Public Health. I am conducting research locally at Blackstone Valley Community Health Center on latent Tuberculosis infection and I am collaborating with our team in Western Kenya to work on chronic disease care. After fellowship, I hope to continue my work in global health research and to teach in an academic setting
Molly Bloom, MD

Global Health Fellow, 2020-21, Family Medicine Residency: Georgetown/Medstar-Washington Hospital Center, MD, University of Maryland School of Medicine , BS, University of Maryland College Park

Molly is a Global Health Fellow also pursuing a MPH at the Brown School of Public Health. Having been born, raised, completing medical school and family medicine residency in the DMV, Molly is excited to be in RI for this next chapter. Her interests include all aspects of Maternal and Child health from family planning to safe childbirth training and advocacy. When she isn't working in and learning from her new communities, Molly enjoys organizing snacks for game night and exploring Providence with her new dog and husband.
Deepika Ram, DO

Global Health Fellow, 2020-21, Family Medicine Residency: UT Health San Antonio, MD: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, BS, Texas A&M

Deepika is a Global Health Fellow with a strong interest in Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) and Woman’s Health. A Texas native, Deepika is keen on exploring her new home in New England and taking in all that it offers. She aspires to work on implementing and expanding POCUS training in her local clinic as well as in clinics in Kenya. In addition, she is interested in pursuing academics and hopes to make an impact in her local community through mentoring and education. In her free time, she loves to listen to all types of music, dabbling in dance and seeking the next outdoor adventure.