The Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, MBRU, announced the participation of 24 of its medical students in the 1^st Summer Studentship Placement Program locally and internationally. The first of its kind at the university, the initiative aims to encourage students to innovate, conduct scientific research, explore healthcare systems as well as develop their communication and leadership skills.

The placement programs provide a valuable work and learning experience, by immersing the students in a diverse healthcare environment that teach them how to communicate, collaborate, and lead. These types of internships illustrate the importance of being leaders as future physicians, and create a strong foundation to build on within each student.

The initiative is a collaboration between MBRU and local and international scientific research centers, academic institutions, and hospitals. During the internships students will learn more about patient-doctor relationships, and engage with healthcare professionals giving them an edge over the competition in the workforce.

Beginning in June until August, this is the first program of its kind offered during the summer holiday. The medical students are divided into groups that are further split across several leading research labs, healthcare centers, and academic institutes both in the UAE and abroad; including the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Cuba. Locally, the students will intern at New York University Abu Dhabi, Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery -Dubai, Biotechnology Center at Khalifa University; and internationally at Queens University Belfast, Schulich School of Medicine, Western University in Ontario, Canada, and University of Havana, Cuba.

Dr. Alawi Alsheikh-Ali, Dean of the College of Medicine at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, said: “The MBRU summer placement program offers our medical students the opportunity to immerse themselves in a wide range of healthcare environments and settings in the UAE as well as globally. This broad exposure is a key element of the transformative learning experience that MBRU offers.”

Dr. Alsheikh-Ali further added that such programs reflect our philosophy that learning is not limited to the university campus, and is always enriched through national and global connectivity.

The medical internships vary in length, they run for approximately a 4-week period complimenting MBRU’s goals through enriching students’ experiences, engaging with the community, facilitating a conducive research environment, and building a generation of innovators, researchers, and healthcare leaders in the UAE.