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.
Health Equity Scholars Program (HESP) - Maintains long-term community partnerships with:
OutMD Student Org: Creates Medical School Pride Alliance 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.
- Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center: veteran and military health issues are incorporated into clerkship and medical residencies. Though many of the medical issues of these special populations are common, they may have increased prevalence, presentation or management. Through required and elective rotations, UMMS students gain exposure to the veteran and military patient populations’ healthcare needs, such as traumatic brain injury, mental health, rehabilitation and long-term management of service-connected disabilities. At the VA, students witness specialized and multidisciplinary care often required for those who have served in our Armed Forces, including Medical Home Visit, an elective where students can contribute to VA home-based care. Outside of clinical rotations, students can pursue research within the nation’s largest integrated health system, often focused on improving access of to healthcare, management of chronic disease, and addressing health disparities for minority, rural and LGBTQ+ veterans.
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
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
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)
South Asian Medical Student Association (SAMoSA)
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.
