Engaging Community-Based Organizations in Co-design of SDOH Curriculum

Attention medical students! Are you interested in engaging with community member to improve the UMass Curriculum? Are you excited about creating sustainable and meaningful relationships between the medical school and the community?

Participate in a unique research project to re-design the medical school curriculum. Shape the way social determinants of health (SDOH), health equity, and health system science are taught. There is an opportunity to get published (if interested) by contributing to an abstract or a manuscript! Work closely with a residency program director, representatives from community organizations, and your medical school faculty.

As a student collaborator, your roles and responsibilities will include the following (subject to change, and student will be assisted by other team members): 

1. Participate in Co-Design Sessions
   We are planning five 2-hour co-design sessions with community partners to re-design the Medicine and Human Experience (MHE) curriculum. Expectations are to:
   1. Familiarize yourself with co-design methods prior to the sessions.
   2. Attend the sessions. Actively participate and provide input on integrating elements of MHE into patient care. Share insights and make recommendations for curriculum adjustments.
   3. Assist with project coordination tasks such as scheduling meetings, taking notes for qualitative analysis, and communicating with community partners.
   4. As part of this process, the conversation in our sessions will undergo qualitative analysis to generate a curriculum “prototype”. You will help contribute to this qualitative data. (Prior experience with qualitative data analysis is not required.)
2. Participate in the Community Advisory Panel (CAP)
   Contribute to the long-term development and sustainment of the curriculum, ensuring alignment with community values and the promotion of health equity. Expectations are to:
   1. Participate in the recruitment and retention of CAP members.
   2. Attend CAP meetings and share the medical student perspective.
3. Help Design and Analyze a Pre/Post-Curriculum Survey
   Assist in developing a survey for medical students to evaluate improvements in understanding, recognizing, and responding to social determinants of health. Specific tasks include:
   1. Helping design the survey.
   2. Supporting survey analysis.

Key Deliverables:

• Co-creation of a community-centered medical school curriculum.
• Pre/post-survey for medical students 
• Survey analysis 
• Potential abstracts or manuscripts detailing survey results, eligible for submission to conferences or journals.
• Remillard grant 2025 report to be submitted September 2025