Columbia Dental Students Participate in Global Leadership Program

This month, 100 students from universities around the world traveled to the Columbia Global Center in Paris as part of an academic short-term immersion experience through the Columbia International Collaboration and Exchange Program (ICEP). The 100 students included 10 from the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine. The Columbia students were joined by students from 15 other universities, including schools in Sydney, Singapore, Kyoto, Tokyo, Cambridge, Helsinki, Berlin, London, Halle, Vienna, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, and Milan.

ICEP aims to prepare students in health professions for international leadership roles and global problem-solving in health care through networking and collaboration. The program was created in 2014 by Anette Wu, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology & cell biology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, for preclinical medical and dental students and college students. ICEP accepts more than 400 students each year from 25 partnering universities around the world.

During the five-day trip, the students attended a conference with Walter Willet, MD, DrPH, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and discussed the role of goverment in promoting healthy eating. Students also toured research laboratories at the medical and dental schools of the University of Paris Cite and the Institut Necker-Enfants Malades, supported by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), and visited the Museum of Medical History in Paris. The dean of international affairs at the University of Paris addressed the students upon their visit to campus.

The Columbia Global Center in Paris and the University of Paris Cite were host schools for the trip.