Discover and Grow
Connecting and engaging across communities.
In your journey to becoming a physician leader, it is incumbent upon you to uncover and learn about your biases, broaden your cultural humility, and understand your values and how all of these shape the care you give. We also want you to feel like a welcome and valued member of our learning community while you do so.
At Michigan, you will find the tools and resources to serve diverse patients in communities around the corner and across the globe, pursue research questions about equity and inclusion, and learn from interacting with an amazing group of peers and mentors.
M1s who serve on the Curriculum on Health Disparities and Underserved (CHDU) committee are committed to seeking out ongoing opportunities to incorporate meaningful health disparities education into the M1 curriculum. After identifying these opportunities, CHDU members engage with students, faculty and administration to craft implementation plans. Ongoing projects include providing incoming students with resources for self-learning and discussion through reflection questions, and developing programming to enhance Race, Identity, and Privilege in Medicine discussions during the M1 year.
The CHDU has also created a maternal health disparities supplement for the Scientific Trunk's Pregnancy and Reproduction content; worked with dermatology faculty to provide feedback on lecture slides using a DEI framework; collaborated with the Student Council to create a review process for DEI-related concerns that arise from questions on evaluations/assessments; incorporated learning objectives, supplemental readings and edits to the Doctoring course substance use disorder packet; and worked with Doctoring course administration to improve sessions, including the session on Immigration and Health.
Health Equity Scholars Program (HESP) - Maintains long-term community partnerships with:
OutMD Student Org: Creates Medical School Pride Alliance Report Cards
White Coats for Black Lives (WC4BL) Student Org: Creates institutional Racial Justice Report Cards
American Indian Health and Family Services of Southeastern Michigan
Arab American Health Initiative (AAHI): Non-profit started by Michigan medical students.
Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS): Students can volunteer or do an elective rotation.
Delonis Clinic: The clinic, located at the Delonis Homeless Shelter in Ann Arbor, provides free medical services to all comers. It operates one night weekly under the guidance of one UMMS faculty member, one resident and one student coordinator. In addition, two students volunteer each week. The student volunteers, usually M1s, perform a focused history and physical on each patient and then meet with the attending or resident to decide on a plan. Volunteering at the clinic is a great way for preclinical students to practice their clinical skills.
Medical Home Visit: Students work with physicians VA Home Based Primary Care
Migrant Health Center/FQHC affiliated with Bay City program: Du Russell Potato Farm
University of Michigan Asylum Collaborative (UMAC)
GLOBAL HEALTH EQUITY:
Fogarty International Center Fellowship (Project example: Expanding surgical services in Rwanda)
Global Health & Disparities Path of Excellence
Global REACH (student funding, faculty funding, research support)
COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTH EQUITY:
Capstone Project Archives: Extensive references to clinics that other students collaborated with in past years.
Michigan medical students have access to several opportunities to improve their medical language skills through electives and student groups including Medicine in Spanish, Medicine in Mandarin, American Sign Language, Medical French and Medical Arabic.
Diversity in Medicine Conference: Unites health professionals from across the country to highlight efforts to increase diversity in medicine.
HOPE Symposium: Creating pipelines and pathways for an equitable future in the healthcare workforce.
The following mentorship and menteeship programs are available to all University of Michigan medical students:
MENTORSHIP:
Black Medical Association (BMA) mentorship program with students in Black Undergraduate Medical Association (BUMA)
Latin American and Native American Medical Association (LANAMA) mentorship program with students in Latinx Undergraduate Medical Association (LUMA)
Success Connects: Mentorship opportunities with pre-health U-M undergraduate students.
MENTEESHIP:
American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) Mentorship Pairing Program
Anesthesiology Mentorship Program
Department of Surgery LEAGUES Program
Michigan Ophthalmology Pipeline Program
Paths of Excellence Faculty Advisor Pairings: Through a Paths of Excellence track, students are hand-selected mentors based on shared interests or experiences.
These student groups welcome all medical students to participate:
Black Medical Association (BMA)
Catholic Medical Student Association
Christian Medical Association (CMA)
Jewish Medical Student Association (JeMSA)
Latin American and Native American Medical Association (LANAMA)
Medical Students for Disability Health & Advocacy (MSDHA)
Medical Students of Middle-Eastern Descent (MSMD)
Parents in Medical School (PiMS)
One of our central goals is that each future physician improves access and health care for underserved and vulnerable patients and populations in their everyday work, whether it be academic medicine, teaching, research, or community practice."
Some of our faculty research mentors talk about what inspires them to seek answers for individual patients and entire communities they may never meet, and the significant contributions medical students make to push our knowledge forward while they train with us.
