Mission
HMS encourages, fosters and supports medical students' participation in community engagement, whether as a scholarly project or as an independent activity. The Office for Community-Centered Medical Education (OCCME) and the Office of Scholarly Engagement (OSE) promote community engagement as an integral part of medical education. This is accomplished through:
- Giving students the knowledge and skills necessary to engage and work with communities by providing information, training, mentoring and other resources
- Providing funding for students who help sustain existing or new community-based projects
- Deepening students' knowledge and understanding of community and civic engagement, social justice, health equity and advocacy
Guiding Principles
A. The acknowledgment of the importance of understanding the community's and patient's perspective, experience and culture
B. Creating collaborative, sustainable partnerships with community agencies
C. The belief that community engagement and learning can be part of a larger agenda at health professional schools to reduce/eliminate health disparities. We believe that it is the obligation of institutions of higher education and health care institutions to engage with their surrounding communities.
