Erica Walton, MD Class of 2010
Stellenbosch University
Tygerberg Hospital
Cape Town, South Africa
Global Partner Institution
Summer 2007

What did you gain from your global health experience?
As a future physician in the United States, I am exposed to a vast number of medical technologies aimed to aid in making medical diagnoses. In South Africa, many of these technologies are not readily available, and therefore medicine is practiced in a more hands-on way. Medical students are trained to use medical intellect as a primary tool in making diagnoses, as technological instruments such as MRI machines, are limited and highly expensive.

How has this experience enhanced your medical training and how will it help you in the future as a doctor?
The South African medical students become doctors and provide an excellent quality of medical care, allowing me to realize that good medicine can be practiced in the absence or lack of the aforementioned medical instruments.

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Pictures display images of: South African women and children performing traditional African songs and dances, Table Mountain, Aquilla Safari Park, and other landscapes.