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Medical Student Involvement

A male student assisting elderly patient with medication
Shelves of donated food at a food pantry
A rack of donated clothing
 
 

Community Health Programs for Medical Students

Medical students have the opportunity to engage deeply with community health through two signature programs: the Community Action Research Track (CART) and the Community Health Fellowship Program. CART is a longitudinal track designed to immerse students in population health and community-based participatory research. Through partnerships with local organizations, students explore the social determinants of health and develop skills in collaborative, real-world problem solving. Building on this foundation, the Community Health Fellowship Program offers a competitive summer experience between the first and second years of medical school. Participants work closely with mentors and community partners on impactful health initiatives, gaining hands-on experience that strengthens their understanding of public health and service.

  • Community Action Research Track (CART)

    Community Action Research Track (CART)

    The Community Action Research Track (CART) is based on the principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), population medicine with special emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, and the social determinants of health. Students enrolled in CART participate in a coordinated program of instruction, electives, ambulatory care rotations, and service-learning experiences with populations in underserved areas. This program offers a three-year experience in which data collection and student progress are monitored in a cumulative manner.

    • Overview and Requirements

      The Community Action Research Track (CART) is an innovative response to the need for integrating Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), population medicine, health promotion/disease prevention and the social determinants of health into the medical school curriculum. Students enrolled in CART participate in a coordinated program of instruction, electives, and service-learning opportunities over four years. Through these experiences medical students contribute to improving health in the underserved communities where they train. The program links the medical school to the community and introduces students to the population health perspective through active community engagement and collaboration.

    • Purpose

      The purpose of the CART program is to prepare future physicians to be aware of social, psychological, economic and cultural determinants of health by participating in comprehensive service-learning experiences. This approach emphasizes the need for population-based strategies incorporating the principles of health promotion and disease prevention, in order to promote optimal health outcomes for all regardless of age, race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, income or educational level.

      The CART program provides students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to effectively improve and maintain the health of all people, and in a way that allows students to contribute to reducing and eliminating health disparities among the underserved.

      The objectives of the program are:

      • To develop, implement and evaluate a longitudinal training curriculum for medical students to improve health in the underserved communities where they train.
      • To teach medical students the fundamentals of community-based and practice-based research while serving the community.
      • To respond to the need for integrating Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), population medicine, health promotion/disease prevention and the social determinants of health into the medical school curriculum.
    • Requirements

      To enroll in CART, students must:

      • Be a Pre-Clerkship or Clerkship student
      • Submit an application

       

      To earn a Certificate of Knowledge in Community Medicine, students must:

      • Attend CART DISCOVERY meeting
      • Attend core concepts workshops and seminars
      • Participate in yearly service-learning community projects
      • Complete at least one pre-clinical elective by the end of their 2nd year
      • Complete a community medicine elective during either the 3rd or 4th year of training
      • Complete a small community-based project by end of 4th year
      • Complete at least four online trainings pertaining to health literacy, community medicine, public health, health promotion, and disease prevention
    • Teaching Research Methods While Reaching the Underserved

      CART responds directly to the need for integrating CBPR, population medicine, health promotion / disease prevention and the social determinants of health into the medical school curriculum. CART students and community members benefit equally from the program’s array of service-learning opportunities and research projects.

      Through the CART program, students participate in various activities, including but not limited to:

      • Volunteering in a free or reduced-fee clinic
      • Helping to establish new clinics
      • Providing screening or counseling to participants at local health fairs
      • Working with community partners to increase immunizations
      • Volunteering in local walking and nutrition programs
      • Volunteering with hospice and other home-visitation programs
      • Contributing to community-based maternal, child health and parenting programs
    • Curriculum

      The program provides a longitudinal experience for medical students over four years. It consists of seven (7) CBPR-specific experiences that define the core curriculum; preclinical electives; community medicine elective rotation; online training and 20 hours (yearly) of community service activities. All students completing the required experiences receive a “Certificate of Knowledge in Community Medicine,” presented by the Community Health Section in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

      Other activities: CART students are encouraged to attend other activities occurring in the University that follow the principles of population medicine and community health such as Ethics Grand Rounds, special speakers or student group events.

      Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4
      Ethics Grand Rounds (Optional) Ethics Grand Rounds (Optional) Ethics Grand Rounds (Optional) Ethics Grand Rounds (Optional)
      Family Medicine Interest Group (Optional) Family Medicine Interest Group (Optional) Family Medicine Interest Group (Optional) Family Medicine Interest Group (Optional)
      Preclinical Elective* Preclinical Elective* Community Medicine Elective (3rd or 4th year) Community Medicine Elective (3rd or 4th year)
      Online Training Online Training Online Training Online Training
      Community Service Core (20 hours / year) Community Service Core (20 hours / year) Community Service Core (20 hours / year) Community Service Core (20 hours / year)
      Seminars in Community Health Practice** Seminars in Community Health Practice** Seminars in Community Health Practice** Seminars in Community Health Practice**
    • CORE Workshops and Seminars

      The seven CORE Workshops and seminars include:

      • Community-Based Participatory Research
      • Social Determinants of Health
      • Population Medicine
      • Cultural Competency
      • Health Literacy
      • Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
      • Introduction to Public Health

      Courses are developed and presented by faculty and guest speakers providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary to critically evaluate the major issues in prevention and introduce medical students to the psychosocial and political dimensions of health. The seminars provide an opportunity to explore the difference and complementary nature of individual-based and population-based strategies for prevention and provide the basic features of the U.W. health care and public health system. Students investigate linkages between disease burdens and the social, economic and cultural contexts. (All students enrolling in the program are required to attend these seminars.)

    • Pre-Clinical Electives

      UTSW medical students are offered a wide selection of elective experiences from which to choose. These electives consist of 10-12 contact hours per course and are evaluated and approved by the UTSW Curriculum Committee. During either their first or second year of training, students will be able to participate in any of the following electives:

      • Community Service Learning
      • Designing Health Care Solutions
      • Global Health
      • Health Care Economics
      • Healthcare in Underserved Communities
      • International Service Learning
      • Medicine and Social Inequality
      • Public Health and Epidemiology
      • Women’s Health

      There may be others outside the list above but the track director, Dr. Gimpel, must approve that elective. (All students enrolling in the program are required to participate in at least one of the preclinical electives.)

    • Community Medicine Electives

      This four-week elective provides students with practice-oriented and/or service-oriented learning opportunities related to community medicine. The course is designed to be individualized to students’ specific populationmedicine interests, and is predominantly experiential, with students completing rotations in local, state, national, or international health care settings and agencies. Students generally rotate through training experiences that go beyond clinical medicine and encompass environmental, public health, and multidisciplinary efforts to improve the health status of individuals. (All students enrolling in the program are required to complete the Community Medicine elective.)

    • Community Service Core

      All students participate yearly in community-based service projects designed to contribute useful health-related service to the community. Completed projects promote effective community partnerships that allow students to provide medical and nonmedical service to the community that might otherwise not be available, while reinforcing student’s commitment to serving those in need. Examples of activities include: United to Serve Fair, The Monday Clinic, Immunizations Fair, etc. (All students enrolling in the Program are required to complete at least 20 hrs. per year of Community Service activities.)

    • Online Training

      Online Training: All courses available to CART through D2L

      Required courses are:

      • Community Engagement Training through Duke University
      • Healthcare for the Homeless through the National Health Care for the Homeless Council
      • A Physician’s Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Care – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
      • Project Implicit Bias (activity to reveal biases)

       

      Research/IRB Training through CITI Program:

      • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
      • Human Subject Protections (All students enrolling in the program are required to complete at least 1 online training per year.)
  • Community Health Fellowship Program (CHFP)

    Community Health Fellowship Program (CHFP)

    The Community Health Fellowship Program (CHFP) is held each summer for 10 weeks for medical students completing their first year.

    This nine-week program introduces pre-clinical medical students to community-based participatory research (CBPR) and emphasizes the importance of collaboration as a means for addressing community health problems in underserved communities.

    • Goals and Objectives

      The focus of the experience is to develop relationships between the UT Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center Community, and community-based health and social service delivery organizations in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. The partnerships are designed to assist community-based organizations in identifying the needs of those they serve. All work is done in a way that benefits the participating organization, while teaching medical students the value of collaboration to achieve optimal health outcomes among underserved communities.

      The CHFP annually offers medical students an opportunity to address the health care needs of underserved patients in a community-based setting and gain applied research knowledge through participating in a didactic research training curriculum combined with developing and implementing a community health agency-based research project.

      This fellowship is nine weeks during the summer and provides a stipend. Supplemental sessions are required to refine community projects and equip students with basic HIPAA research and human subjects training prior to the summer program. A limited amount of additional funding is also available for presenting research findings at national or regional professional meetings and conferences.

    • Program Curriculum

      The nine-week program blends interactive lectures to provide participating students with the necessary knowledge to successfully conduct community-based research. Among the topics included in this facet of the program are the following:

      • Behavioral Medicine
      • Biostatistics
      • Bioethics
      • Cultural competency in CBPR
      • Data Analysis & Interpretation
      • Health Disparities
      • Health Literacy
      • Homelessness
      • Original Research Presentations
      • Race and Medicine
      • Study Designs

      Students participating in the program complete a CBPR project under the guidance of a community mentor and a faculty mentor from UTSW. Academic work each student is responsible for developing are:

      • Abstract
      • Manuscript draft/executive summary
      • Oral presentation
      • Poster presentation submission to conference

      Ongoing guidance and support will be provided throughout the fellowship to ensure students are able to successfully meet the above deliverables.

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