In late 2024, Dr. Jack Haggarty, psychiatrist and NOSM University Professor, travelled to the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda in his role as clinical supervisor and educator. This marked his second time supporting UGHE undergraduate clerkship rotation in psychiatry, reinforcing an evolving partnership between two institutions that share a commitment to health equity in underserved communities. Dr. Haggarty was among 10 international physicians providing two weeks of clinical supervision to UGHE medical students in Butaro, Rwanda.
Founded in 2015, UGHE was created through a collaboration between Partners in Health and the Rwandan government, with a shared vision to advance health equity and medical education in rural communities. Its main campus is in Butaro, a mountainous region near the Uganda border, and its programs extend to other rural areas of Rwanda.
Partners in Health founder Dr. Paul Farmer, a global health visionary, dedicated his life to building sustainable, high-functioning medical services and education in underserved regions including Haiti, Peru, Russia and Rwanda. His principles of equity and access continue to shape UGHE’s work today.
Dr. Haggarty sees UGHE as a ‘concept model’ similar to NOSM University, as both universities strive to improve health equity, medical access and education in rural communities.
Developing Partnerships
The partnership between NOSM University and UGHE began in 2021 with Dr. Emily Groot, Program Director, Public Health and Preventive Medicine at NOSM University. She was looking for opportunities for residents interested in global public health to gain a wider variety of experiences.
“I was really interested in developing a partnership with an institution that is newer than NOSM University but has thought through a lot of the same challenges we face,” she says. “It provides an opportunity for us to learn from another institution that is embracing a similar social accountability mandate.”
The partnership between NOSM University and UGHE was a natural fit—both universities serve rural communities and train health professionals to deliver equitable access to care in underserved areas.
Dr. Haggarty sees parallels between the rural communities of Rwanda and those across Northern Ontario, such as Indigenous and Francophone populations, which similarly present opportunities to learn from low-resource settings.
During his recent visit to Rwanda, Dr. Haggarty worked with local social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists to train 36 UGHE medical students in core psychiatric skills such as mental status exams, pharmacology, and mood disorder treatment. He also supervised students during rotations at Rwanda’s only psychiatry hospital, which serves the country’s 13 million people. Following his initial visit in 2023, student interest in psychiatry grew significantly, leading to discussions about developing a postgraduate psychiatry program at UGHE.
“One of the reasons I’ve been asked to continue to engage with UGHE is because the NOSM University experience has been so parallel,” he says.
Dr. Tara Baron, pediatrician and Associate Dean of Continuing Education and Professional Development (CEPD), has also played a key role in fostering this relationship. She first visited UGHE in 2022, 2023, and again in January 2025 while bringing a medical resident with her. These experiences provide pediatric residents with invaluable exposure to healthcare systems outside North America, allowing them to develop teaching skills while adapting to different medical environments.
“For the residents, this is an opportunity to understand medicine in a global context, work with minimal resources, and learn alongside talented UGHE students,” says Dr. Baron. “It’s an extraordinary opportunity for growth.”
Dr. Baron also sees parallels between UGHE and NOSM University in terms of challenges and learning opportunities, including learning to provide care in limited resource environments and ensuring that there is space for medical students to have hands-on learning.
Looking Forward
The physicians enjoyed their experience teaching and learning from UGHE and hope to deepen the partnership with NOSM University going forward.
Dr. Haggarty is looking forward to continuing working with UGHE and the Boston-based Partners in Health to develop more programs. “It was a privilege to be invited. We’re looking forward to working on a postgraduate development plan for psychiatry,” he says.
Dr. Baron, who has been at NOSM University since its inception, describes the experience of working with the UGHE students as “extraordinary” and is working to bring two UGHE pediatric residents to Northern Ontario for an elective.
“They are bright, motivated students who are so keen to learn. It has also been a privilege to watch UGHE develop their own clinical teaching capacity over the past three visits, to the point that eventually visiting faculty will no longer be needed,” she says.
“Our residents get the opportunity to go there, so we wanted to be able to be reciprocal and give their students the opportunity to come and see what pediatrics in Canada is like,” she says.
In May 2024, UGHE professor Dr. Ursin Bayisenge presented at NOSM University’s annual faculty development conference, Northern Constellations and Connections. Faculty members who have engaged with UGHE believe that formalizing this partnership could bring lasting benefits to both universities.
