Any undergraduate student who is interested in international community health should know about the Mabelle Arole Fellowship, awarded annually since 2002 through John Snow, Inc (JSI) Research and Training. Candidates must be admitted to medical school to be eligible. If awarded the Fellowship, s/he defers entrance to medical school for one year. Applications are due in mid-January 2018 and finalists are interviewed in early March in Washington, DC (at the candidate’s expense).

The Fellow would depart the US in mid-June 2018 and returns in spring of 2019. The Fellow, who receives $8,000 to cover all expenses, spends 10 months at the Comprehensive Rural Health Project at Jamkhed (in Maharashtra), one of the best examples of how mobilized/empowered communities can significantly improve their health/nutrition status. The Fellowship in 2018-19 will include work at a rural project in Nepal and, in addition to a focus on primary health care, attention will be paid to non-infectious diseases and periodic surgical camps.

All relevant information is available on the AMSA website (www.amsa.org, search for Arole) which has a link to Jamkhed site and contains reports by previous Fellows. Any questions can be directed to Dr. David Pyle at  dpyle@JSI.com or 503-894-8546 (in Portland, OR).