IAMAT was founded to help travellers stay healthy during their journey. Travellers should be able to access to reliable, qualified doctors and nurses no matter where they are in the world. To make that a reality, we raise funds to support travel medicine education and training through our Travel Medicine Scholarships.
We have awarded 38 scholarships since the program was established in 2002.
Our Travel Medicine Scholarships provide training opportunities for doctors and nurses from countries where travel medicine is an emerging specialty. Courses are taught by experts at leading travel and tropical medicine institutions. The scholarships also include a practical component, such as clinical observations in travel clinics.
After completing their training, our scholars return home to teach their colleagues and medical students. They apply their new knowledge and clinical best practices in their communities, improving healthcare for travellers and local patients alike. This unique program provides scholars with the knowledge and practical experience to become certified practitioners in travel medicine.
Are you a healthcare practitioner interested in travel medicine?
Learn how you can become the next IAMAT Scholar:
More people are travelling now than ever before. Doctors and nurses around the world are seeing more international travellers visiting their countries and more local people travelling abroad. Many health practitioners recognize the need for travel medicine services in their communities to keep inbound and outbound travellers healthy.
Despite the need for travel medicine services, training is not accessible to practitioners in many countries that have growing tourism markets. Training programs can be prohibitively expensive or non-existent in their country or region. The high cost of travelling for training also prevents many practitioners from studying travel medicine abroad.
Our Travel Medicine Scholarships help to address some of these barriers by providing full or partial funding for course tuition fees, educational resources, and accommodations.
Our scholars are young, fully licensed doctors and nurses who see local patients and travellers in their practice, but have not been able to access specialized travel medicine training. They are often already practising aspects of travel medicine or plan to establish travel health services in the near future. Many of our scholars are also lecturers at local medical schools and are affiliated with university teaching hospitals.
To date, we have awarded scholarships to doctors and nurses from the following countries: China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Haiti, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Our scholars currently train here:
Our scholars become leaders in travel medicine in their countries. In addition to providing travel medicine services to travellers and local patients, past scholars have held workshops for clinic staff and local medical associations, expanded the travel medicine courses they teach at medical schools, and established travel medicine clinics. In the longer term, they have become clinic directors and immigration panel physicians, coordinated local and regional travel medicine networks, and continue to contribute valuable research on travellers’ health. Some of our scholars have gone on to establish travel medicine societies in their country.
IAMAT scholars use their new knowledge and skills to improve medical care for patients and travellers in their communities. They provide high-quality medical care to travellers before, during, and after travel.
Travellers can go confidently knowing that our scholars are highly trained in travel medicine. They are familiar with medical conditions that commonly affect travellers and have a deep understanding of local health risks. Our scholars speak English and one or more local languages, which allows them to help travellers navigate the local health system.
Thanks to the scholarships, doctors and nurses are better prepared to meet the needs of inbound and outbound travellers in their communities. They develop specialized travel medicine skills which they pass on to their colleagues and medical students including how to conduct a pre-travel risk assessment. Scholars also fine-tune their leadership and cross-cultural communication skills. When doctors and nurses are trained in travel medicine, they’re better prepared to meet the needs of both local patients and travellers.
Our Travel Medicine Scholarships are fully funded by generous gifts from our donors. A donation pays for our scholars’ course tuition fees, educational resources, and accommodations. When you give to IAMAT, you help our scholars get the training they need to provide trusted travel health services and improve health standards in their community. Here’s where your donation goes.
Our donors make a huge difference in the lives of our scholars and their patients. Whether you are travelling or not, you can support our scholars with a donation. You can also leave a legacy gift in your estate to sponsor a full scholarship in your name to bring travel medicine to more countries and travellers.
Scholarships named after our legacy donors include:
Robert Haru Fisher Travel Medicine Scholarship
Stella & George Bryant Travel Medicine Scholarship
Violet Williams Travel Medicine Scholarship
Support an IAMAT scholar today! Learn more about Legacy Giving
Last reviewed and updated: November 24, 2020
When you have reached the point where you no longer expect a response, you will at last be able to give in such a way that the other is able to receive and be grateful. - Dag Hammarskjöld
