GMER Program Provides New Experiences, Opportunities for Ugandan Medical Student

Passy Nabongho traveled to the University of Minnesota to participate in the Global Medical Education and Research program. 

A lot can happen in four months. Ask Passy Nabongho.

Since arriving at the University of Minnesota in June, the Ugandan medical student has gone through rotations in pulmonology, gastroenterology and infectious diseases; reconsidered his desired medical speciality; and developed a network of physician collaborators.

That’s on top of navigating a medical system much different from the one he’s used to back home.

Nabongho traveled to the United States as part of the Global Medical Education and Research Program (GMER). The Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility operationalizes the program and convenes with all medical school departments and divisions to facilitate this experience for visiting medical students. 

The GMER program allows University of Minnesota medical students to travel to one of more than a dozen international sites to take part in clinical or research education. In addition, international students like Nabongho can travel to the UMN as part of the exchange program. 

GMER has allowed UMN medical students to study abroad for more than 25 years. Nabongho was one of 25 international trainees that came to UMN as part of the program during the 2024-25 academic year. 

Nabongho’s experience is one he’ll take with him when he returns to Kampala.

In fact, his positive experience working with infectious diseases clinicians has made him think about pursuing infectious diseases instead of pulmonology, his initial first choice as a medical student.

“The people I’ve worked with here really are the best,” said Nabongho.

Below are excerpts from a conversation with Nabongho about his time as a GMER student. 

What does your day-to-day look like as a GMER student?

I’ve been rotating in the internal medicine specialties. I started with pulmonology and then I went to infectious disease. Currently I’m doing gastroenterology. It’s a hands-on experience where you get to interact with patients, you get to look through their charts, take histories from them, present to their attending, give your management plan and get feedback from the attendings on how you can improve.

It’s an experience that looks at how medicine takes place in this setting. You’re involved in everything.

How has the experience benefitted you as a medical student?

In internal medicine, there’s a lot of focus on critical thinking. The people I’ve worked with have really pushed me to think more critically.

One of the things someone told me was, as a physician, you have to recognize cognitive bias while evaluating a patient. Sometimes for example, if you have a bias, and you’re just trying to make a diagnosis based on the info you have and you’re not trying to look at other possible alternatives, you’re going to end up misdiagnosing the patient. 

So that’s one thing that I want to teach my peers. Recognizing bias while evaluating a patient can go a long way in making the right diagnosis.

How has the GMER program influenced your career goals?

Before I came here, if you asked me after internal medicine what I would go into, everyone thought that I wanted to study lung disease. Part of me still wants to study lung disease, but after going through the infectious diseases rotation, I am strongly considering going into infectious diseases. The people I worked with were exceptional, and had a strong impact on me.

I’m more drawn to figuring out what’s wrong and thinking through things and doing something to watch and see if a patient will improve. During the infectious diseases rotation, during rounds, there was a lot of critical thinking and going through all the data: the lab results, the antibiotics, everything.

Changing something and seeing a patient get better through your reasoning and thinking and actually intervening, that’s the thing that really stood out to me. It’s one of the specialties within internal medicine where it’s very cognitive and you actually see patients getting better and you reason through things. That’s why it stood out for me.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I would like to thank all the people I’ve worked with at the University of Minnesota, including: Shannon Benson of the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility; Dr. Kathleen Mahan; Dr. Serin Edwin Erayil; Dr. Meredith Kavalier; Dr. Nathan Mesfin; Dr. Aahd Kubbara; Dr. David Perlman; and Dr. Byron Vaughn. 

I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Madam Susan Byekwaso, the International Office coordinator from Makerere University who made all this possible.