Executive Leadership Certificate in Global Surgery + Innovation

The Executive Certificate in Global Surgery Leadership & Innovation is designed for professionals who are ready to move beyond good intentions and isolated projects, and instead lead meaningful, system‑level change. This program empowers you with the leadership, innovation, and strategic skills needed to reshape how surgical care is designed, delivered, and sustained. 

If you are driven to create impact that lasts, this program is built for you.

With nearly 5 billion people lacking access to safe surgical and anesthetic care, this program equips participants with the leadership, innovation, and systems thinking skills needed to close the surgical access gap whether in low- and middle-income countries, rural and remote regions, or underserved communities in high-income settings.

This certificate program aims to cultivate leadership that:

• Shifts focus from short-term to long-term system strengthening.
• Fosters multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration.
• Champions local leadership and ethically grounded global partnerships.

Who is the Executive Leadership in Global Surgery and Innovation for?

Course Overview

 

The program begins with an in-person Leadership Immersion, designed as the foundation for the participant journey through the certificate. Participants will have an opportunity to explore their leadership identity and examine how they lead in their own context through facilitated reflection, dialogue, and exercises. 

This opening immersion is intentionally designed to anchor the program, creating the conditions for deeper learning, peer exchange, and practical application throughout the modules that follow.

The journey then bookends with a global immersion opportunity through the Executive Leadership in Global Surgery Certificate at the University of Cape Town, offering participants the opportunity to extend their learning within an international leadership environment and engage with global perspectives on health systems transformation.

Together, these experiences create a distinctive leadership arc — from self-awareness to systems influence, from local action to global perspective.

The Executive Leadership Certificate in Global Surgery & Innovation includes five core modules, one elective, and an integrated capstone project. The program runs from September 2026 to April 2027. Participants should aim to complete the modules sequentially, as this structure supports the incremental development of their capstone intervention.

Module 1
Reframing Global Surgery: Systems, Equity, and Ethics

Introduces global surgery as a universal health systems challenge, extending beyond low-resource settings to include rural, remote, and underserved populations globally. Participants explore health systems, equity, and ethical considerations that shape access to surgical care.

Module 2
Leading Change in Global Surgery: Influence, Power, and Purpose

Focuses on leadership as a practice, equipping participants to influence change regardless of formal authority. Emphasis is placed on navigating power structures, strategic communication, and using storytelling to mobilize action.

Module 5
From Vision to Impact: Turning Ideas into Systems Change

Supports participants in translating ideas into actionable interventions using implementation science and systems thinking. Learners explore how to design scalable, sustainable programs aligned with health system priorities.

Module 3
From Silos to Synergy: Strategic Partnerships in Global Surgery

Develops the skills required to build and sustain cross-sector partnerships. Participants learn how to align diverse stakeholders, navigate resistance, and foster collaboration to drive system-wide change.

Module 4
The Politics of Change: Diplomacy and Advocacy in Global Surgery

Equips participants to navigate political and institutional landscapes through advocacy, diplomacy, and communication. Emphasis is placed on influencing policy and building coalitions for sustainable impact.

Capstone Project: Applied Leadership in Practice

Participants design and implement a real-world intervention within their own context. Guided by coaches, participants use program frameworks to address genuine constraints and decisions, ultimately producing tangible outcomes that extend beyond the program's duration. This practical approach ensures the capstone is a hands-on exercise in leadership, not just a theoretical one.

Elective Module

Participants select from a range of electives focused on areas such as innovation, rural surgery, systems thinking, or Indigenous health. These modules provide an opportunity to deepen expertise in a specific area of interest.

Elective options (choose one)

• Rural Surgery as Global Surgery: Bridging Local and Global Gaps (14 hours, online)
• Indigenous Health and Surgery: Reconciliation in Practice (14 hours - Online)

Learning Outcomes

Participants will emerge from the program able to:

• Lead confidently with the tools to navigate complexity: Cultivate a deeper awareness of your own leadership identity and discover how to "lead self" before leading others, empowering you to become a proactive change agent.
• Navigate power, influence, and politics with purpose and insight: Acquire the skills necessary to successfully advocate for surgical care access and policy reform. Learn to understand the dynamics of international and local policy-making, and employ effective communication and negotiation tactics to influence decisions and secure necessary resources for surgical programs.
• Build and sustain robust, cross‑sector partnerships and collaborations: Key areas include establishing a collective vision, drafting fair and equitable agreements, and ensuring that global health initiatives achieve long-term sustainability and mutual benefit for all partners.
• Translate ideas into scalable and sustainable impact: Gain the practical skills needed to move from concept to execution. 
• Apply systems thinking to real‑world challenges: Utilize a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to analyze the interconnected components of surgical care delivery—from supply chains and workforce issues to financing models and public health policy.

You will graduate not just with new knowledge—but with the skills, mindset, and network to lead transformative change.

Course Fees

Registration