In the Division of Global Women’s Health at NYU Langone Health, we offer an innovative and comprehensive approach to global women’s health training. We combine both global health education, outreach, and research to provide a robust and critical approach to women’s healthcare globally.

Our residents learn how biological, environmental, and societal pressures affect women’s health, the outcomes of pregnancy and reproductive health, and long-term survival. Our robust curriculum covers reproductive and obstetric health, women’s rights, gender-based violence, family planning and contraception, female circumcision, obstetric fistula, maternal mortality, and the ethical and societal challenges affecting women’s health outcomes.

Under the guidance of Taraneh Shirazian, MD, division director, our division trainees are positioned to become women’s health advocates who will serve as the healthcare leaders of tomorrow in national and global women’s healthcare.

Our Role in Global Health Education

Residents learn the importance of public health initiatives in generating long-term solutions in women’s health. Collaboration among global health programs is emphasized. Participants learn the complexity in generating solutions to international health issues and how current public health strategies are aimed at affecting change for women around the world. Dr. Shirazian has written the first global women’s health handbook for medical providers, Around the Globe for Women’s Health: A Practical Guide for the Healthcare Provider, published by Springer, which serves as a textbook for our global health curriculum.

There has never been a more important time to learn about global healthcare and how it mirrors much of our local needs in health outreach for underserved communities.

Global Health Outreach

Global health outreach is about collaborative health care that is sustainable for local communities. To this end, we partner with our medical school and other nongovernmental organizations and programs that have robust relationships with the countries they serve. Among them is Saving Mothers, a nonprofit founded in 2009 by Dr. Shirazian that is dedicated to eradicating preventable maternal deaths and birth-related complications in low-resource settings. Having worked in various development contexts as an obstetrician-gynecologist, Dr. Shirazian believes that tackling the most intractable inequalities in maternal health demands an integrative, global vision for care that values women’s lives equally regardless of their location or ability to pay.

Residents and medical students have the opportunity to choose among vetted programs and sites that offer sustainable health outreach for women. You spend elective time (one to four weeks) on the ground with global communities where you learn firsthand about the complex medical issues women face, participate directly in patient care, learn about the cultural sensitivities of healthcare, and are part of programs and research designed to improve women’s lives.

Our Role in Research

We offer a vast opportunity to conduct robust research. Some research areas include obstetric protocols, gynecologic surgery, prenatal care, application of technology to the global setting, training of birth attendants, and development of quality metrics. Residents and medical students identify a research project as part of an ongoing program that they participate in. Dr. Shirazian serves as faculty mentor and encourages the presentation of data at regional and national obstetrics and gynecology conferences.

Contact Us

For more information about our division, please contact Dr. Shirazian, division director, at taraneh.shirazian@nyulangone.org.