MD Curriculum Health Equity

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Requirements & Opportunities

Health equity topics are intentionally and thoughtfully incorporated into the Scientific Trunk, Clinical Trunk and Branches — and beyond.

Curricular Requirements And Opportunities

Scientific Trunk

Education & Small Group Discussions:

  • Social & Structural Determinants of Health
  • Immigration Healthcare & Working with an Interpreter
  • LGBTQ+ Healthcare
  • Caring for People with Disabilities
  • Caring for Geriatric Patients
  • Forum on Structural Racism
  • Intimate Partner Violence
  • Substance Use
  • Weight Management & Obesity Bias
  • Patients with Psychiatric Conditions

LECTURES

Representative examples:

  • Society, Food, and Public Health
  • Proper Terminology Relating to Transgender-Identifying Persons
  • Historical Implications of Using Glomerular Filtration Rate
  • Racial and Socioeconomic Factors on Maternal Health
  • Counseling People about Weight
  • Late Life Psych/Ageism
  • Stress and Depression During Medical Training
  • Psychiatric Disorders of the Peripartum Period
IMPROVING HEALTH SYSTEMS
  • Health Systems Science Sessions
  • Research Ethics and Impact of Bias (using Tuskegee experiment as an example)
  • Population and Public Health
  • Understanding Costs Associated with Healthcare

Clinical Trunk And Branches

Education & Small Group Discussions:

  • Trauma Informed Care
  • Gender Affirming Care
  • Medical Ethics & Health Disparities
  • Community Agency Site Visit (part of Family Medicine clerkship)
  • History of Racism in Medicine Course
  • Implicit Bias, Microaggression & Allyship Training (as part of required Residency Preparation Courses)  

Students also have the option of completing required clerkships at off-site locations including:

  • Emergency Medicine: Flint, Detroit, Ypsilanti
  • Family Medicine: Packard Health, Ypsilanti Health Center
  • Internal Medicine: Flint, Jackson (Federally Qualified Health Centers)
  • Addressing Disparities Amongst Patients & Health Systems
  • Bystander Intervention Training (how to handle bias when coming from patients)
  • Ending Medical Reversals
  • Leading Positive Change by Understanding Social Determinants of Health

Communities We Serve

M4 students talk about finding the space and support to realize their vision to engage with and care for diverse patient populations with the resources they need to help affect change.
A group of students in a classroom
Connecting through conversation

MD Curriculum Language Opportunities

Student organizations and elective courses aimed to help students develop language skills, strengthen confidence in common patient interactions and explore existing health disparities across numerous specialties.

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Health Equity in Action

Five conference staff wearing name badges stand and sit around a registration table in a building lobby. A large sign on an easel reads “Michigan Disability Empowerment Conference Welcomes You,” with a smaller sign that says “Register Here.”
Dose of Reality

Building Community Through Disability Advocacy

University of Michigan medical students Mustapha Jaber and Mohamad Awada share how they've built community through disability advocacy through the development of the Michigan Disability Empowerment Conference.
A group of people pose in front of a corrugated metal wall with a "food gatherers" sign and a large carrot graphic. Several individuals are wearing University of Michigan Medical School apparel, and four people in front hold a large plush carrot.
Dose of Reality

Love Is Our Resistance: Redefining Advocacy in the Patients & Populations Branch

University of Michigan medical student Navya Kalia discusses her work within the Patients and Populations Branch, an area of interest that focuses on advocacy, public health and public policy.
A medical student with a standardized patient who uses a wheelchair have a conversation in an exam room
Dose of Reality

Nothing About Us Without Us: Bringing Disability into Clinical Training

University of Michigan medical student Josee Li worked with a team to design the Disability Standardized Patient Program, which aims to train students on a wide spectrum of disability and care that patients may require
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Go Beyond the Curriculum

Engage in health equity and advocacy opportunities taking place across our campus, our community and beyond.

  • Work with underserved communities
  • Take part in global and domestic health research projects
  • Learn or expand your language skills to better connect with patients
  • Attend conferences and events
  • Join identity-based interest groups
  • More Health Equity & Advocacy Opportunities