Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine (KPSOM) concluded its first Global Health student rotation in Nepal earlier this year, marking a major milestone in the school’s growing global health curriculum and partnerships.
Through the AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare) consortium, KPSOM has established a four‑week rotation at Dhulikhel Hospital, a community‑based health system that includes a tertiary care referral hospital and 18 outreach centers serving roughly 2.5 million people across about two‑thirds of Nepal. The site offers students both inpatient experience at the main hospital and time at rural outreach centers such as Dolakha, where they see firsthand how geography, poverty, and infrastructure shape access to care.
“I definitely intend on being a global health physician,” said student Barune Thapa. “I think that this rotation's been super important for me because I am, for the first time, seeing how clinical care can be delivered really well in rural Nepal and in places where, traditionally, healthcare has not been able to be delivered at this level. I really want to be a part of learning what structural barriers our patients are facing across the globe, and trying to find ways to equitably reduce those disparities. And so, it's a lifelong thing.”
The inaugural rotation, held in January, brought Thapa and fellow student Zeus Islas (both members of the Class of 2026, who have since graduated with the Doctor of Medicine degree) to Dhulikhel Hospital alongside faculty members Jeffrey Brettler, MD, Faculty Director of Global Health, and obstetrician‑gynecologist Sree Chanchani, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Clinical Science. The students spent their days moving between ward rounds, conferences, outpatient clinics, and specialty areas such as cardiology and the catheterization lab, reflecting a model in which physicians care for patients across settings rather than in narrow roles.
The faculty paired their clinical work with teaching, with Dr. Chanchani delivering seven lectures, leading a shoulder dystocia simulation, and visiting rural clinics, while Dr. Brettler engaged local leaders in population‑health and systems‑of‑care discussions.
For Islas, who previously volunteered with the Refugee Health Alliance in Tijuana, the rotation was “extremely eye‑opening” in showing how clinicians provide high‑quality, patient‑centered care with far fewer diagnostic and therapeutic resources than in the United States. He recalls surgical cases in which patients presented with such advanced kidney disease that “complete nephrectomies” were required, and a man who lived for 18 years with a metal tracheostomy tube that had broken before he sought care, illustrating how long travel times and difficult terrain delay treatment.
“Seeing these physicians work in these resource‑limited settings and yet still putting patient‑centered care at the center was extremely insightful and really helpful overall,” Islas said.
