The main purpose of this Tropical and Geographic Medicine course is to train health professionals to learn an approach to preventing, diagnosing, evaluating, treating and managing tropical diseases. This course is the first of its kind in western Canada.  Over 250 physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals have successfully completed this course.

Course objectives

Through interactive lectures, small-group case-based discussions and practical laboratory teaching, attendees will meet learning outcomes pertaining to:

• a clinical approach to the evaluation and management of tropical diseases;
• practical laboratory skills, with a focus on the identification of parasites important for the diagnosis of tropical diseases;
• public health principles and applications including outbreak management.

The course emphasizes three broad areas: (1) Clinical Tropical Medicine; (2) Parasitology; (3) Public Health. Participants will gain knowledge and skills in:

Clinical Tropical Medicine

• Understanding the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, and complications of major tropical diseases;
• Clinical approaches to evaluating patients presenting with diseases acquired in the tropics;
• Diagnosing and treating important tropical diseases.

Parasitology

• Understanding of the lifecycles of clinically important parasites with respect to transmission and control;
• Understanding of the development of parasites within the human body and the corresponding clinical symptoms and pathophysiology;
• Laboratory diagnosis of various blood and gastrointestinal parasites.

Public Health 

• Understanding the approach to outbreak investigation through an interactive case-based session;
• Preventing and controlling infections within a community using modalities such as immunization and environmental health intervention.

Date: May 6-10, 2019

Time: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Locations:

University of British Columbia

Main classroom: Pharmaceutical Sciences Building, Room 3208, 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC

Laboratory: Life Sciences Centre, Multi-Purpose Lab,  2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver BC

Registration Here: 

Course brochure – view here (updated)

Sample (2018) course lecture – Leishmaniasis 

Target Audience

• Physicians, medical trainees, public health practitioners, nurses and other healthcare workers who intend to practice in the tropics, resource-limited settings or who require an update on infectious, parasitic and other major tropical diseases

Prospective participants from outside of Canada must have valid entry document and visa (if applicable) to enter Canada to take this course. Participants are responsible to procure such documents; it is advisable to have these documents in hand prior to registering in our course. UBC will not issue formal letters of invitation for visa purposes.

Information on visitor visa is available at the Government of Canada  Immigration and Citizenship website.