When fourth year medical students begin choosing their elective rotations, exciting subjects come to mind: surgery, neurology, emergency medicine, cardiology. But for one Georgia Regents University, Medical College of Georgia student, public health sounded like an interesting and challenging rotation.

Vishal Goyal selected to spend the month of July in the heat of south Georgia observing the many programs of the Georgia Department of Public Health, South Health District. As a native of Atlanta and resident of Augusta while at GRU, Goyal was interested to see a more rural area of the state so he elected to be the first MCG student to officially intern with public health in the Valdosta area.

Dr. William Grow, district health director, learned of the opportunity of hosting medical students while networking with fellow MCG affiliates. According to Dr. Grow, a syllabus was submitted to become an approved site for medical students to learn more about public health practice as an elective rotation. “In 2013, we received that approval and were pleased when Vishal expressed interest.”

“I am interested in Family Medicine,” says Goyal. “But I have a particular interest in Public Health as well. I wanted a more practical experience outside of the academic setting.” 

Goyal, who already has a Master of Public Health, is rotating through public health programs, South Georgia Partnership for Health and South Georgia Medical Center’s pediatric cardiology unit. “I was able to work with Dr. Harold Katner, an infectious disease physician from Macon, through the Adult Health Promotion Clinic,” Goyal stated with enthusiasm. “That was a wonderful opportunity for me. He is very inspiring.”

During Goyal’s observation time at the South Georgia Partnership for Health, he mentions seeing one patient with Dr. Berl that had six co-morbidities but couldn’t afford the medications to treat each. “We had to come up with Plan B in that case, looking at options like the $4 medications available at drug stores and other community resources. You don’t have much exposure to these types of situations in the academic setting,” says Goyal. 

“The cases that I have seen through public health and partnership are much more complex than the majority you see in private practice. Transportation is a major issue,” he continues to discuss.  “I realize through this work, I will have to be creative in taking care of patients in the real world. I won’t always be able to give the textbook answer.”

Goyal is also gaining exposure to procedures that could help one day in his own practice. Through his work with Vital Records at Lowndes County Health Department he better understands procedures that could benefit his own patients. “If I have someone come through my practice one day that would need a Low THC Oil Registry identification card, I can confidently tell them how to get it and other stipulations that come along with it,” says Goyal. “These are policies and procedures we don’t learn about in school.”

Goyal is working his way through all facets of public health: environmental programs, telemedicine, children programs and many more. “Vishal has had the opportunity to work with public health practitioners and others that have influenced policies and procedures for helping people that might not otherwise have access to medical care,” states Dr. Grow. “The experiences he is gaining while here, will expose him to needs and challenges people have, associated with medical care, that he will not learn about in an academic environment.”