Dr. Thaer Ahmad is a board-certified emergency medicine physician with over 15 years of experience in humanitarian relief and global health. He serves as an instructor for the World Health Organization’s Basic Emergency Care Course and is a board member of the Palestinian American Medical Association, as well as a past board member of MedGlobal, two NGOs dedicated to responding to humanitarian crises worldwide.

Dr. Ahmad has volunteered as an Emergency Medical Team member in Gaza and has led capacity-building projects in Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, Kenya, and worked extensively in refugee health across Europe and the Middle East. His advanced training includes completion of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s Humanitarian Response Intensive Course and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) Course. He is also an instructor for the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Fundamentals of Critical Care Support Course.

Recognized for his dedication, Dr. Ahmad has received the Humanitarian Award from Advocate Christ Medical Staff for three consecutive years and, in 2025, was honored with the SAEM Global Emergency Medicine Academy’s Humanitarian Service Award. He has delivered global health lectures at medical schools, public health programs, and universities nationwide, and is committed to expanding the range of global health experiences available to residents in Advocate Christ’s Emergency Medicine program

1. Dominican Republic – Interdisciplinary Medical Program (Creighton University & ILAC)

Residents participate in an immersive program through Creighton University and the Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC), serving rural Dominican communities known as campos.

 Key Features:

·      Clinical Service: Provide care in small community clinics alongside local healthcare professionals.

·      Health Education: Deliver charlas (educational talks) on preventive health strategies to improve quality of life.

·      Community Engagement: Live with local families to foster cultural exchange and understanding.

·      Language: Spanish knowledge is helpful but not required; fluency is not necessary.

This experience emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and cultural humility while addressing health disparities in rural settings.

. Botswana – Clinical Rotation at Princess Marina Hospital

Senior residents have the opportunity to participate in a four-week clinical rotation in Botswana, Africa, working alongside local emergency medicine residents at Princess Marina Hospital, which is affiliated with the University of Botswana.

Key Features:

·      Clinical Integration: Collaborate with Botswana emergency medicine residents in a high-volume, resource-limited setting.

·      Licensure Requirement: Residents must submit an application to obtain temporary medical licensure for Botswana prior to the rotation.

·      Academic Affiliation: Princess Marina Hospital serves as a teaching hospital for the University of Botswana, offering exposure to an established emergency medicine training program.

4. Tijuana Elective

Clinical Environment

• You will be working with a non-profit mobile wound care clinic.

• Tijuana is a Mexican border city south of San Diego. One of ACMC’s graduates and her partner named Patricia, who is a PCP (originally trained in Mexico and graduated with a fellowship from UCSD - focus on HIV/AIDS) run the clinic. Patricia initially started the project in order to offer HIV/AIDS screening for high-risk individuals as well as provision of harm reduction measures. She began noticing that the patients she was treating were unable to get care at private or public medical facilities due to stigmatization and expanded services accordingly. Funding for the clinic is provided partially by UCSD, with a number of volunteers assisting in care.

• COVID severely disrupted patient care and led to extensive displacement of patient population. Volumes have been steadily recovering since that time. 

• Rotators would need to be independent and-self driven in order to visit different sites and engage in cultural-education didactics. Ideally, volunteers are scheduled to be present on the first larger clinic (first Sat of each month) then facilitate follow-up care throughout the duration of the ensuing month. 

Patient Population

• Patient demographics

  • Unhoused individuals, high-risk patients for violence and abuse (food, clothing, and social resources are also offered)

  • The clinic is currently serving a large amount of individuals deported back to Mexico from the US but without roots in the area

• Cultural norms

  • Tijuana is a very blended city with many migrants from South America as well as recent deportees from the US. Some areas of the city cater very heavily to tourists and Americans. 

  • There is discrimination between Mexicans locally and migrants from South American thought to be “skipping the line” by locals

• Acuity of patients being seen

  • Lower acuity complaints with many social components - primary-care focused rather than acute emergency care

3. New Zealand – Senior Emergency Medicine Elective at Gisborne Hospital

This one-month elective takes place at Gisborne Hospital, located in Gisborne, New Zealand. Residents work clinically under the supervision of ED attendings in a 115-bed hospital serving a town of approximately 38,000 people, where nearly half of the population identifies as Māori and close to two-thirds of patients live in poverty.

Patient Care

·      Gain experience caring for patients in a lower-resource, global emergency medicine setting in a region with the highest rates of morbidity and mortality nationally.

·      Participate in and provide appropriate, evidence-based direct care to patients presenting with conditions ranging from urgent care needs to critical illness, including assessment, stabilization, and possible transfer to tertiary centers.

Medical Knowledge

·      Improve understanding of providing care in a smaller city within a different healthcare system, managing both acute and chronic illnesses.

·      Encounter and manage disease pathologies less common in the Chicagoland area, including tropical infections, animal/insect/spider bites, and other unique conditions.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

·      Enhance ability to provide sensitive, culturally appropriate care to patients facing socioeconomic challenges.

·      Develop communication skills by working with patients from diverse cultural backgrounds, particularly Māori communities.

Systems-Based Practice

·      Learn and identify practice patterns within New Zealand’s healthcare system.

·      Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to provide comprehensive care and connect patients with available health resources.