To meet the needs of a rapidly changing world of health care, future physicians will need to be trained with a broader understanding of the social and economic factors affecting their patient’s daily lives.  Integrating social determinants of disease will be a major part of their acquisition and mastering of clinical skills as well as their efficiency as healers. Although not a new approach to the practice of medicine, social medicine is evolving toward a new discipline with its own body of knowledge, and own expert practitioners.

The new “pathway of emphasis” in Social Medicine encompasses didactic sessions; required coursework; research under the direction of a faculty mentor; experiential learning; professional development through participation in organizations, societies and scientific meetings; and self-directed learning activities both conventional and web-based. 

Goals and objectives

• To raise awareness of health inequities and barriers;
• To explore the challenges  of the care of minority and vulnerable populations;
• To increase medical students’ cross-cultural competency;
• To understand the social determinants of health systems and policies;
• To acknowledge and address institutional and societal barriers to health access.
• To prepare medical students for work in underserved communities, and in resources- environments, both at home and abroad
• To provide students with an opportunity for research in the area of social medicine and health care delivery in resource poor and culturally diverse settings;
• To allow students to network with peers, faculty and other role models locally, regionally and internationally;

Beginning in the second semester of the first year, students will begin participating in the following didactic activities:

• Small group theme discussions of one hour duration.
  Relevant medical literature, evidence-based and peer - reviewed, will be discussed. The group will be monitored by the faculty who will choose the theme of discussion. Two hours a month will be assigned to the small group activity.
• Rotations in community settings such as community based organizations, allowing students to experience the health systems and its limitations from the patients’ point of view and to work alongside with agency workers and social workers. One morning or afternoon a month will be assigned to the community experience.
• Film and Podcast series followed by discussions with Pathway director. Two sessions of one hour will be scheduled during each semester.
• Self-directed learning: assignments, research, writing, posters for conference presentation (i.e , AAMC, GHEC).

By June of the first year, students will be expected to choose  a mentor or will be assigned one. After an initial meeting with their mentor the students will start working on their selected research project between their first and second year. The preferred research subjects should generally be population based:  health equity, health care access, vulnerable populations, gender equity, nutritional deficiencies, cultural illnesses, alternative medicine. Clinical research subjects emphasizing social components or cultural variants of common illnesses, are encouraged.

Limited opportunities for summer internships working with community agencies will be available.

During the second year, the students will focus on their research project. They will also continue to participate in didactic activities: small groups, seminars, lectures, and self-directed web based learning. A mandatory research progress report will be submitted to the pathway director twice during the year.

Students will be encouraged to participate in medical trips to resource - poor countries such as Haiti during vacation time. Students who have made significant progress with their research project will be sponsored to attend a national meeting with a social medicine/global heath focus.

During thethird and fourth year, students will continue their didactic and research activities. Students will have opportunities to participate in international experiences with the residents and faculty in the Jay Weiss Residency in Social Medicine and Health Equity, earning up to 4 weeks of course credits for these clinical and socio-cultural experiences.

Students will present their research subject at the end of their fourth year  either as a written paper or a poster.

It is expected that completion of the pathway and the research project will qualify these students as prime candidates for residencies in social medicine here at Jackson Memorial Hospital and nationally.

Other Activities

It is expected that the students will attend the Jay Weiss Center for Social Medicine and Health Equity sponsored lecture series and will take full advantage of the Center resources and linkages with other national programs.

They will also be encouraged to participate in existing students organizations , both on our campus and nationally, devoted to community health and patient advocacy, both on our campus and nationally, such as Medishare, Medical students in Action, Physicians for Human Rights, and Global Health Education Consortium.

Competencies

• At the end of their first year, the students will have a basic understanding of the tenets of social medicine, an introduction to the literature and web resources and should be able to formulate a plan for their research project.
• At the end of their second year, students will be expected to integrate their awareness of cultural and social factors in their clinical encounters and case presentations
• At the end of the third year the students should be familiar with the local community resources, community health services, health insurance limitations. They should be able to identify the major sources of institutional and societal health inequities. They should demonstrate independent search of the social medicine literature and didactic resources.
• A research project, in collaboration with a mentor will be completed and presented at a regional or national student forum.
• After completing the Pathway in Social Medicine, students will have participated in meaningful experiences, both locally and internationally, learning how to provide care and build health care systems in resource poor communities in order to improve the health of underserved and diverse populations.