About SUGAR

The SUGAR Story

In 2010, we began meeting annually with a group of pediatric global health education colleagues from seven institutions in the Midwest to share best practices and research ideas. Through this Midwest Consortium of Global Child Health Educators we realized that despite the substantial effort we were putting into preparing our residents for global health rotations, we had not yet found a way to adequately prepare our residents for the emotional challenges that they encountered abroad.

At the same time, Mike and Sabrina had been using simulation in their respective global health programs to develop a resident-led simulation curriculum with an international partner and to help residents learn about medical conditions they were unaccustomed to seeing in the U.S. As we shared our respective simulation experiences with our Midwest Consortium colleagues and reflected on the gap that all seven programs perceived in pre-travel preparation, it led us to ask the question “could we use medical simulation to prepare global health residents for common emotional challenges encountered abroad, rather than just medical preparation?” It was this pivotal moment that led to the development of the SUGAR curriculum.

The SUGAR curriculum was piloted over one year at seven institutions and has since been rolled out to dozens more through workshops across the country.

View a more detailed overview of the data and feedback

SUGAR Co-Creators



Sabrina Butteris, MD

Sabrina Butteris, MD is a pediatric hospitalist and the Director of Global Health Education for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health. She co-founded and has served as the co-leader for the Global Health Pediatric Education Group of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors. She is the current Chair of the American Board of Pediatrics Global Health Task Force and is on the Education Committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on International Child Health. She has worked in Tanzania and Ethiopia and oversees resident education domestically and abroad.

Michael Pitt, MD

Michael Pitt, MD is a pediatric hospitalist and the Director of Global Health Education for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota where he is an Associate Program Director for the pediatric residency program. He serves as co-leader of the Global Health Pediatric Education Group of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors and is on the Education Committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on International Child Health. He has worked in Tanzania, Haiti, and El Salvador and oversees resident education domestically and abroad.

Publications & Presentations

SUGAR Publications
  1. Rosenman J, Fischer P, Arteaga G, Hulyalkar H, Butteris S, Pitt M. Global Health Simulation During Residency. Global Pediatric Health. June 2016. (In Press).
  2. Pitt M, Gladding S, Butteris S. Using Simulation for Global Health Preparation. Pediatrics. 2106 May. doi: 10.1542/peds.2015-4500
  3. Butteris S, Gladding S, Hagen S, Eppich W, Pitt M. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Preparing residents for emotional challenges abroad, a multi-center study of a novel curriculum. Academic Pediatrics. 2014;14(5): 533-41.
SUGAR Abstracts

Published

  1. Pitt MB, Butteris SM. Give Me Some Sugar - Using an Online Platform to Disseminate a Novel Global Health Curriculum. Pediatrics. Feb 2016, 137 (Supplement 3) 365A; doi: 10.1542/peds.137.Supplement_3.365A
  2. Rosenman JR, Fischer PR, Arteaga GM, Butteris SM, Pitt MB. Sugar for All? Perception of a Global Health Simulation Curriculum By a Pediatric Residency Program. Pediatrics .Feb 2016, 137 (Supplement 3) 373A; doi: 10.1542/peds.137.Supplement_3.373A
  3. Pitt MB, Gladding SP, Butteris SM. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Useful in Preparation, But What About When Abroad. Academic Pediatrics. 2015;15(4):e1. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2015.04.003.

Oral Presentations

  1. Pitt M, Butteris S. SUGAR Rush – How an Open-Source Curriculum led to Crowd-Sourced Spin-Offs. Pediatric Academic Societies. April 30-May 3, 2016, Baltimore, MD.
  2. Bensman R, Pitt M, Umphrey L, Slusher T, Butteris S, Rule A. PEARLS: Procedural Education for Adaptation to Resource-Limited Settings - A SUGAR Spin-Off Curriculum. Association for Pediatric Program Directors Annual Meeting. March 30-April 2, 2016, New Orleans, LA.
  3. Pitt M, Butteris S. SUGAR Rush – How an Open-Source Curriculum led to Crowd-Sourced Spin-Offs. Association for Pediatric Program Directors Annual Meeting. March 30-April 2, 2016, New Orleans, LA. (Also presented as a poster)
  4. Pitt M. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR) – An Overview. Association for Pediatric Program Directors Annual Meeting (Global Health Pediatric Education Group). February 25-28, 2015, Orlando, FL.
  5. Arteaga G, Butteris S, Fischer P, Rosenman J, Pitt M. Innovations for Low-Resource Settings: Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR). International Meeting on Healthcare Simulation 2015 – Spectrum of Innovation Showcase. January 10-14, 2015, New Orleans, LA.
  6. Butteris S, Loharikar A, Pitt M. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): A Novel use of Simulation in the Global Health Arena. American College of Emergency Physicians Annual Meeting. October 27-30, 2014, Chicago, IL.
  7. Butteris S, Gladding S, Eppich W, Hagen S, Al-Nimr A, Fischer P, Howard C, Houser L, Kuzminski J, Rosenman J, Schubert C, Slusher T, St. Clair N, Warrick S, Pitt M (Presenting Author). Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Preparing Residents for Emotional Challenges Abroad, a Multi-Center Study. Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting, May 3-6, 2014, Vancouver, British Columbia. (Abstract #750393)

Poster Presentations

  1. Pitt M, Anderson C, Cooper T, Hagen S, Houser L, Jacquet G, Lukolyo H, Peto H, Vercio C, Watts J, Butteris S. Making a Case for Simulation in Global Health: A Multi-Institutional, Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration to Expand SUGAR Beyond Pediatrics. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition. October 22-25, 2016, San Francisco, CA.
  2. Pitt M and Butteris S. Give Me Some SUGAR: Using an Online Platform to Disseminate a Novel Global Health Curriculum. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition. October 24-27, 2015, Washington D.C.
  3. Rosenman J, Butteris S, Arteaga G, Fischer P, Pitt M. SUGAR for All? Perception of a Global Health Simulation Curriculum by a Pediatric Residency. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition. October 24-27, 2015, Washington D.C.
  4. Pitt M, Gladding S, Butteris S. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Useful for Preparation, But What About When Abroad? Association of Pediatric Program Directors Annual Meeting; March 26-28, 2015; Orlando, FL. (Published Abstract: Academic Pediatrics. July ;15(4)).
  5. Pitt M, Gladding S, Butteris S. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Useful for Preparation, But What About When Abroad? Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting; April 25-28, 2015; San Diego, CA. (Pub. 2941.731)
  6. Pitt M, Gladding S, Butteris S. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Residents’ Perceptions of Most Helpful Aspects of Curriculum on Return from their Global Health Elective. Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting; April 25-28, 2015; San Diego, CA. (Pub. 2934.667)
  7. Pitt M, Gladding S, St. Clair N, Butteris M. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Resident Reported Changes to Pre-Trip Preparation after Encountering Common Emotional Challenges in a Simulated Environment – A Multi-Institutional Study. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition. October 11-14, 2014, San Diego, CA.
  8. Pitt M, Gladding S, Butteris S. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Resident Perceptions of the Most Difficult and Most Valuable Aspects of Simulated Global Health Experiences at a Multi-Institutional Curriculum Study. Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting. May 3-6, 2014, Vancouver, British Columbia. (Abstract #754666)
  9. Pitt M, Eppich W, Hagen S, Butteris S. Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR): Description and Facilitator Feedback of a Standardized Simulation Curriculum To Prepare Residents for Global Health Experiences. Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting. May 3-6, 2014, Vancouver, British Columbia. (Abstract #: 754784)
  10. Pitt M, Butteris S, Gladding S, Fischer P, Howard C, St. Clair N, Warrick S, Eppich W, Kuzminski K, Houser L, Schubert C, Slusher T, Al-Nimr A, Hagen S. Simulating the Emotional Challenges of a Global Health Elective: A Multi-Institutional Study of a Novel Curriculum. Association of Pediatric Program Directors Annual Meeting. April 2-5, 2014, Chicago, IL.

Grant Funding

The expansion of SUGAR was made possible with the support of the UW Health Clinical Simulation Program and the University of Minnesota’s African Studies Initiative.