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What is Global Engagement?

Global Engagement is the involvement of our students, faculty, and staff within global activities that impact pharmacy education, practice, and research worldwide. Global activities include international partnerships, international student rotations, and global collaborative research among others. Global Engagement is one of the School’s strategic initiatives that aims to bring to fruition the mission statement of the School “to develop leaders in pharmacy education, pharmacy practice, and pharmaceutical sciences who make a difference on human health worldwide.

There are two fundamental objectives within the Global Engagement initiative:

  • Expand the School’s education, research, and practice mission globally
  • Initiate and participate in global health-care initiatives in partnership with UNC health science schools and other health-care institutions

In order to accomplish these objectives, the School has begun to explore different collaborative opportunities with other institutions and organizations throughout the world that align with the School’s mission and global aspirations.

Why Global Engagement?

Global Engagement represents an opportunity to address multiple aims of the School across pharmacy education, practice, and research. The following are just some of the global aspirations of the School:

  • To improve upon knowledge of global health and impact human health worldwide
  • To assume a leadership role in humanitarian and global health efforts in underserved countries
  • To expand the educational and research mission of the School abroad
  • To influence pharmacy education and practice
  • „To prepare students with knowledge, critical thinking, and communication skills in a globalized society and global economy
  • To train and develop the next generation of globally minded pharmacists

How can I get involved?

If you are affiliated with the School, please contact the Global Engagement Fellow to discuss your global aspirations and to determine an appropriate engagement opportunity.

If you are outside of the School looking to explore collaborative opportunities with the School, please contact the Global Engagement Fellow and briefly explain your interest in collaborating with the School.

Have a question or comment? Contact globalpharmacy@unc.edu.

PharmAlliance is an international partnership between the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Monash University, and University College London that provides opportunities for collaborative international efforts to advance patient care.

The Global Pharmacy Scholars program provides international experiential education opportunities to current Pharm.D. students to practice global scholarship in varied settings, so that students can develop new cognitive frameworks that can be applicable regardless of practice setting or location.

The School offers a variety of Global Internships for our student pharmacists, allowing students the opportunity to explore the roles pharmacists play in different global health settings.

The Office of Global Engagement at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is offering an internship which will involve the selected interns in the global activities of the School.

The selected intern(s) will have the opportunity to work in one or more of the following areas:

  • Survey research – the office is currently exploring ideas in survey research within select developing nations surrounding clinical pharmacy practice and pharmacy education. The intern(s) may have opportunities to learn about survey science, develop surveys, and participate in survey distribution.
  • Curricular development – the office is currently engaged in the development of new courses and degree programs. The intern(s) may have the opportunity to contribute towards content development.
  • Due diligence for international opportunities – the office is continuously evaluating the international landscape for new, innovative, and impactful global opportunities. The school is interested in evaluating opportunities within Africa, South America and the Middle East. The intern(s) may learn about and contribute to the due diligence processes that are involved in assessing global opportunities.
  • Data analysis/metrics development – data is the backbone of new ideas, continuous quality improvement and evaluation of progress. The intern(s) may have opportunities to learn about and contribute to data collection for the office, as well as develop metrics/tools for use in monitoring and evaluating activities.
  • Program development – the office is exploring opportunities in developing business plans for new activities and programs. The intern(s) may have the opportunity to learn skills toward developing new activities and programs for PharmAlliance and emerging initiatives.
To learn more, please take a look at our internship brochure. To speak to our office about this internship, please e-mail globalpharmacy@unc.edu with questions.

The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is a non-governmental organization and global body representing pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, founded in 1912. Through their 139 national organizations, academic institutional members and individual members, FIP represents over three million pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists around the world. FIP has been in official relations with the World Health Organization since 1948. Through their partnerships and extensive global pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences network, they work to support the development of the pharmacy profession, through practice and emerging scientific innovations, in order to meet the world’s health care needs and expectations. You can find their vision, mission and strategic plan here.

FIP’s education initiative (FIPEd) aims at strengthening projects and partnerships with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The FIP-UNESCO UNITWIN African Center of Excellence in Pharmacy Education was recently created to facilitate the sharing of ideas, skills, resources, and best practices around pharmacy education within five countries in Africa. The work of the Center focuses around five broad pharmacy domains: communication, capability, quality, innovation, and clinical.

About the Internship

Activities

The internship provides an opportunity for student pharmacists to gain hands on experience in international pharmacy organization administration. Interns could work in any one of these selected areas:

  • Education systems and human resources for health;
  • Marketing and business development;
  • Policies and global health.

Intern tasks may include, but are not limited to, project development, data management, and data analysis. The mentor will provide additional details. There are 1-2 positions available for this internship per year. The internship is currently only offered to second year student pharmacists.

Structure

Selected interns would begin their internship off-site during the Spring semester and continue on-site at The Hague for two months during summer 2017. During the spring semester, students would dedicate approximately 5-10 hours/week to FIP intern activities. Once on site at the FIP headquarters in The Hague, the Intern would work with FIP on a full-time basis (40h / week) for two months.

 

For more information about this internship, please e-mail globalpharmacy@unc.edu with questions.