Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship

Make a global impact:

Take your emergency medicine skills worldwide

Vanderbilt’s Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship trains emergency medicine residency graduates in the challenging and broad field of global EM. We ensure our fellows get extensive and individualized exposure to diverse areas of global health including global EM systems development, delivery of acute care in low resource settings, global EM education, tropical medicine, and global research. 

The fellowship is one to two years in length, based on the individual fellow’s educational goals and personal interests. The program has successfully graduated ten fellows since its inception in 2009.

Watch the above video to learn more about the Vanderbilt Global EM Fellowship.

Educational Curriculum

The educational plan for each fellow is customized to their interests and career goals. Two-year fellows are encouraged to pursue a Master of Public Health (or equivalent degree). All fellows participate in the Vanderbilt Collaborative for Global Health Excellence course, earning a certificate of completion from the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health. 

Additionally, depending on time and budget, fellows may choose from a variety of optional courses to further enhance their training. These include the ASTMH Tropical Medicine and Hygiene course, such as the Gorgas Course in Peru or the CDC course in Minnesota, as well as Health Emergencies in Large Populations and the WHO Basic Emergency Care course.

Scholarly Project 

Fellows are required to conduct at least one scholarly project with a manuscript of publishable quality during fellowship.

Field Work

Our fellows spend approximately three to four months abroad per year, working on various projects in resource-limited settings.

Vanderbilt EM maintains a long-standing partnership with Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation in Guyana, where fellows gain immersive international experience. Our new collaboration in Maputo, Mozambique, further expands these opportunities, offering fellows exposure to diverse global emergency medicine settings.

Fellows provide clinical supervision to trainee emergency physicians, deliver weekly didactic lectures, lead journal club discussions, and contribute to local projects. They also work closely with the Guyana National EMS System and the Critical Care Nursing program, broadening their experience in both education and system-level emergency care.

Clinical work and teaching responsibilities

Global EM fellows receive a Clinical Fellow Instructor position through the Office of Graduate Medical Education and serve as attending physicians within the Emergency Department, supervising and teaching residents and medical students. Fellows are assigned a limited number of shifts, with flexibility in scheduling to accommodate international duties. 

The Department of Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt has a reputation for providing excellent education for students, residents and community health workers. Fellows are expected to participate in educational endeavors by attending case conferences, presenting interesting cases and providing didactic lectures on global EM topics to our residents and students.

Application Process

Our 2026-2028 fellowship position has been filled. Please check back in spring 2027 for application and interview information for positions beginning July 2028!

Applicants must be board-certified or board-eligible graduates from an ACGME-accredited emergency medicine residency. If you would like to apply to our program, please apply directly through the SAEM global emergency medicine fellowship application website.  

Please also complete our departmental fellowship application.

Application requirements as follows: 

  • Curriculum vitae
  • Letter of interest
  • Three letters of recommendation – one must be from the residency program director
  • Applicants must also register with the National Residency Match Program as fellowship positions will be filled through the NRMP match process.

Thank you for your interest in our program! If you have any questions, please email the fellowship director, Dr. Kristen Dettorre.