The Society for Education in Anesthesia (SEA) and Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) Traveling Fellowship is an opportunity for CA-3 anesthesia residents to spend four weeks teaching and learning at an HVO anesthesia education site in a low-resource setting.

The fellowship is grounded in the simple but lasting idea that teaching is the most powerful way to strengthen global anesthesia care and improve patient safety. Each year, selected residents join colleagues in countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, and Vietnam, working alongside local anesthesiologists, anesthesia providers, residents, and nurses. The focus is on education, sharing knowledge, demonstrating safe and adaptable practices, and helping build local teaching capacity that endures long after the rotation ends.

Residents must apply during their CA-2 year to travel in their CA-3 year. They may choose from several approved HVO sites depending on timing and availability. HVO will coordinate plans for the overseas assignment to occur before the end of the resident’s training. Round trip travel to the site will be funded and a stipend given to help defray living expenses, travel insurance, visas, etc. Since the experience is considered a clinical rotation outside the primary program, participants should obtain approval from their home institution, program director, and the ABA Credentials Committee as needed. Because this is an outside rotation, it should normally be completed before the last three months of residency. Two days on either end of the rotation may be taken as travel days; otherwise residents are expected to be teaching on site all days that have been agreed upon by their program and HVO site.

Though only four weeks long, the SEA–HVO Fellowship leaves a lasting impact. Fellows return home with a renewed sense of purpose, energized by their global colleagues, and united by the shared goal of expanding access to safe anesthesia through education.

Applications open in November 2026.