BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER GLOBAL AND LOCAL HEALTH EQUITY FELLOWSHIP
Interview with Gabrielle Jacquet, MD, MPH
Written by: Bailee Jacobsen, DO
Fellowship Website: https://www.iemfellowships.com/programs/46
Can you tell me a bit about your background and what drew you to become part of leadership for the Boston Medical Center Global and Local Health Equity Fellowship?
I went to medical school at University of Vermont and residency at Denver Health and it was incredible but did not have much opportunity for global health. When I did have the opportunity in global health, I had virtually no preparation or formal training in how to do global health work ethically and safely. This motivated me to pursue a fellowship in global and public health which I did at Johns Hopkins which provided me the formal training and skill set that I needed to pursue a career in global emergency medicine.
My experience motivated me to focus on standardizing and improving the preparation for trainees at all levels to participate in global health experiences. I am the founding course director of the Practitioner's Guide to Global Health that is required for students, residents, and fellows at many institutions including Boston Medical. This is in the hopes that it provides a concrete, tangible experience to prepare learners to go abroad and to be prepared to come back from the global experience and longitudinal learning. With that said, I have always wanted to develop a fellowship in global health here at Boston Medical Center. I have been here for about 8 years. We initially were going to start the fellowship a few years ago, but COVID postponed that, but now we are actively recruiting for both global health fellows and local health equity fellows.
Can you explain the difference between the global health fellows and the local health equity fellows?
It is one combined fellowship in that the didactics will be shared, but fellows who opt for the global health tract will apply through the NRMP. We will also have one or two spots in the local health equity tract which will not be through the match process. We believe we have a lot to offer here
Can you give a short description of your vision for the fellowship?
I see the fellowship as a bit of a choose your own adventure. There will be some required material, such as an MPH or another advanced degree like an MSPH, and the required clinical work at Boston Medical Center, an urban, academic level I trauma center with >130,000 visits per year. This will provide great patient care experience for a new attending.
The fellow will be able to choose a focus in the global or local health tract. For example, within the global area, we have established projects and contacts in different areas around the world, or they are welcome to work on a project that they have already started on in residency or medical school. For the local health equity fellows, similarly, they will be able to choose within the many things we have here what they want to focus on. For example, if someone comes in and wants to work on the care of asylum patients and improvement of care, that is one option. There are a lot of different options to focus on that are listed on our website. Within the scope of what we have at BMC or within the Boston area, they can work on any project that has to do with health equity improvement as long as it is something that is ethical, sustainable, and beneficial to both the fellow and the population focused on.
What is one unique aspect of the fellowship at Boston Medical Center?
We are so blessed to have almost every social resource that you can think of in our emergency department. We have an extremely diverse patient population, 30% of our patients have limited English proficiency and many patients have just arrived from another country with many barriers to care, homelessness, substance use disorder, etc. We have many on-site resources as well that will provide so many learning opportunities to offer for the fellows.
Can you briefly describe some qualities or experiences you look for in potential applicants/ what makes an ideal candidate for your fellowship?
There are fellowships that are very structured, this is not one of them. I encourage applicants to think about what they are looking for. We are looking for applicants that have some idea of what they want to pursue and is looking to thrive in an environment that has a patient population, a residency, and a faculty group that are all committed to caring for patients with health disparities. We have a lot of opportunities here, so someone who is not sure what they want to do might feel overwhelmed by the amount of different opportunities. If someone comes in with some prior knowledge of what they want to do, even if it’s two or three things that they are choosing from, they will likely be more successful in this program. Logistically, must be in the final year of an EM ACGME residency training, 3 or 4 years and require letters of recommendation and demonstration of commitment to the field.
What opportunities do you feel this fellowship will provide to graduating fellows?
If the fellow wants to stay in the Boston area there are so many opportunities here to advance and make a difference. If someone is going back to their home institution or their hometown, I think they would have the tools to build a fellowship. If any fellow is interested in doing that for their career, I myself have just gone through the building of a fellowship, and I think they will be very equipped to start their own fellowship.
Any additional information you would like potential applicants to know?
One recent honor, the Lown institute just released a ranking of the most socially responsible hospitals in America, BMC is 12th out of 3,010 nationally and 1st in 53 hospitals in Massachusetts.
(Link here: https://lowninstitute.org/press-release-equity-is-the-missing-piece-for-elite-hospitals-to-be-truly-socially-responsible/)