Lead image by eggeeggjiew / iStock
By Dan Rubinstein
This past summer, a newborn baby who wasn’t feeding properly arrived at the Burlo Garofolo Pediatric Institute in Trieste, Italy. Just a few dozen days old, the boy struggled every time he attempted to nurse.
Doctors ran a series of tests and eventually detected a cleft in his larynx. The team consulted with a nutritionist and developed an alternative feeding plan while mapping out a longer-term cure.
It was a wonderful example of physicians from different disciplines working closely together in a high-pressure situation: a vulnerable patient, a worried family, and not much time to diagnose and address the problem before the tiny baby’s health deteriorated.
Carleton University health sciences students Carlyn Brunette (left) and Sophia Giangrande (middle) outside of the Burlo Garofolo Pediatric Institute in Trieste, Italy
Carleton University Health Sciences major Sophia Giangrande observed this intervention from start to finish thanks to the Doctors in Italy Fellowship Program, which allows students from around to world to shadow health-care professionals in their daily activities — an immersive experience that helps the next generation gain confidence and build cross-cultural connections on their journeys towards careers in medicine.
“It was an amazing opportunity to learn about the inner workings of a hospital — to see everything that happens behind the scenes,” says Giangrande, who is doing a global health concentration and started her second year at Carleton this fall.
“I got to be in the operating room for two C-sections. It was pretty intense, but really interesting, everything from how pain management was handled to the operations themselves.”
On the Right Path
Before going to Italy in June, Giangrande wasn’t sure how well she would stomach the sight of blood, which can be a significant obstacle for somebody who has their eyes on med school. Turns out she was fine.
“It was good to learn that this is an environment I’d be comfortable in,” she says.
“I left the hospital excited and energized every day.”
Giangrande, who came to Carleton from Whitehorse specifically for the Health Sciences program, as well as to join the varsity Nordic ski team, is thinking about becoming either a pediatrician or OB-GYN, interested in both children’s and women’s health.
“Being in Italy and being exposed to so many diverse things helped confirm that this is something I want to work toward,” she says, adding that the trip also helped her prepare for a potential semester abroad at some point. “It feels like I’m on the right path.”
A Great Opportunity for Health Sciences Students
Launched in 2018, the Doctors in Italy program is affiliated with some of the best hospitals in the country in well-known cities such as Rome, Milan and Florence as well as smaller centres like Ferrara, Alessandria and Padua.
Students spend 40 to 80 hours in on-site clinical rotations and visit tourist attractions and soak up local culture and cuisine when they’re not at their hospitals. Aspiring doctors, nurses, physical therapists and other healthcare professionals are encouraged to apply.
Giangrande was one of three Carleton students who participated in the program this year. She went to Trieste with friend and classmate Carlyn Brunette, while fellow health sciences major Zoe Mills spent two weeks in July at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Naples, the largest clinical care and cancer research centre in southern Italy.
Carleton University health sciences major Zoe Mills in front of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Naples, Italy
For Mills, an Ottawa-area native who is now in her fourth year at Carleton, with a concentration in biomedical sciences and a minor in biology, the experience was an opportunity to see different parts of the health-care system in action while deciding what her next steps will be.
Mills spent a week in the thoracic surgery unit in Naples, watching operations on organs within the chest cavity, and a week in the cardiology unit, observing EKG procedures and a range of interactions between doctors and patients.
“These types of shadowing opportunities are not common in Ottawa for undergraduates, unless you’re in nursing,” she says.
“It helped solidify for me, going into my final year at Carleton, that I’m meant to work in health care. It helped narrow my idea of what I want to do.”
Drawn more to laboratory work than hands-on patient care, Mills is planning to study pathology after she graduates, hoping to help people by diagnosing and advancing treatments for diseases such as cancer.
Her time in Italy helped her make this choice, and her well-rounded health sciences education at Carleton has provided the foundation for a promising career.
First wide image by kzenon / iStock
Wednesday, September 24, 2025 in Faculty of Science, Health, International, Student Experience
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