Sixth Year of Social Emergency Medicine Diversity Externship Program
Under the outstanding leadership of Highland Hospital’s Dr. David Duong, the 6th summer of the SEM Diversity Externship Program is in progress developing underrepresented medical students and fostering the next generation of social emergency medicine practitioners. This summer there are 4 remarkable medical students to participate in the Externship program: Taylor Blair from Medical College of Wisconsin; Guyton Harvey, Brandon Richardson, and Jadon Roberts from Howard University College of Medicine. Drs. DaShawn Hickman and Jose Acosta are the Resident Program Advisors and will participate in clinical coaching of our externs, alongside Drs. David Duong and Jocelyn Freeman. The externs have remarked that this higher-level clinical instruction is something that they do not experience until later in their usual medical school training.
Dr. Harrison Alter is leading discussion sessions on social emergency medicine topics and the effects of social emergency medicine research on policy and patient outcomes. Drs. Nicole Rodriguez and Megan Heeney are mentoring and guiding the externs through qualitative social emergency medicine research. The Externs will present their research at CSAM in San Francisco in August: “Integrating a Harm Reduction Community Partnership into a County Addiction Medicine Clinic.”
Externs tell us that one of the most impactful parts of the Externship is their work with the nonprofit Mentoring in Medicine and Science (MIMS). Working with Dr. Jocelyn Freeman and Ms. Asha Vittatoe, the externs serve as MIMS mentors and instructors to underrepresented high school and college students interested in medicine and science. The externs built and grow relationships with their students, and many of these relationships continue well after the externships end.
