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Doctors and global health: tips for medical students and junior doctors

Jeffrey J Leow, Daryl R Cheng and Frederick M Burkle Jr
Med J Aust 2011; 195 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/mja10.11491
Published online: 12 December 2011

Preparing for a future in humanitarian medicine

Many young doctors are becoming aware that their careers will be spent in an increasingly globalised society — one in which major challenges will be managed by global initiatives and not by individual nation states alone. The concept of “global health” transcending geographical borders and requiring cooperative solutions between governments, organisations and individuals is becoming widely accepted in developing and developed countries.1 Over the past decade alone, the number of individuals who identify themselves as humanitarian and global health professionals has doubled, at least in the Western world.2


  • 1 Surgeons OverSeas, New York, NY, United States.
  • 2 Department of General Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
  • 3 Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 4 Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Mass, United States.
  • 5 Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC.


Correspondence: jeffrey.leow@gmail.com

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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