Whether this is the spring before you do summer away rotations or your last spring at VUSM, we know that you’re making the most of it. To further help you, elective counseling office hours are available for 2026 graduates to ensure you are on track to meet graduate requirements and personal goals. For those graduating this May, please be sure to check Degree Audit in YES to ensure you are on track for all requirements. If you have any concerns, please contact immersion.phase@vanderbilt.edu. We hope you all have a great spring!

Zeynep Kubilay, MD, is one of the course directors for the Global Health ISC. She most enjoys the reciprocity with reaching medical students. For as much as Dr. Kubilay teaches them, her students offer her the freshest information. Medical students have the "[e]nthusiasm to soak up all information while maintaining a curious and critical mind."

Zeynep Kubilay, MD

Dr. Kubilay loves the variety of being a hospitalist. You may find her caring for geriatric patients one day, and the next, doing new admissions on the cardiology service. You may see her working on Morgan service with internal medicine residents and students, then covering consult service with surgical teams. She also spends time with first year students as a clinical skills teacher and has meetings related to her role as Global Health Pathway Co-director in addition to running our Global Health ISC. Dr. Kubilay appreciates the balance between the clinical and educational that her roles allow, keeping her happy and satisfied in her work. She hopes to see you in the Global Health ISC, which provides students with the unique opportunity to spend the entirety of the course at one of Vanderbilt's partner sites around the world!

The continued expansion of Vanderbilt Health brings new opportunities for students to work at off-campus clinics. As a reminder, the policy states that "students should be prepared to travel up to 35 miles from the [VUSM] campus to reach assigned clinical sites (maximum of 70 miles round trip per day). Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from all clinical sites for educational experiences, including all costs associated with that travel." 

The first successful heart transplant in the US was performed by Norman Shumway, MD, who received his MD from VUSM in 1949.

WEBSITE

Find most of what you need online in the MD Gateway under Immersion.

Do you have questions about the Immersion Phase? Want counseling on which courses to take?