Social Emergency Medicine Research Diversity Externship

The Levitt Center seeks to promote health equity by encouraging social emergency medicine (SEM) programs in underserved communities and supporting diversity in SEM practitioners throughout the United States. To advance these goals, each summer the Levitt Center funds the Social Emergency Medicine Research Diversity Externship at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California. The externship aims to provide research opportunities and clinical coaching for medical students underrepresented in medicine, preparing students to advocate for the incorporation of social determinants of health into the practice of emergency medicine, and to offer mentorship for medical students considering careers in emergency medicine.

For information on the externship and how to apply, visit the externship website.

Externship Experience

Clinical Experience:

Externs will spend 1 shift per week in the Highland ED for exposure to the clinical practice of Emergency Medicine (EM). Externs will have faculty supervision, bedside teaching of patient care, and feedback on their clinical performance. Externs will also have the opportunity to attend EM residency and medical student teaching sessions on core clinical topics in EM. Externs will also meet with EM residency leadership for advising on the residency application process.

Research Experience:

Externs will engage in social emergency medicine research through exposure to scholarly inquiry, research methodology, ethical data collection, and the foundations of social determinants of health. Externs will be supervised by Highland Emergency Medicine faculty in pursuing research questions and implementing interventions with potential for publication authorship. Externs will have didactics and case studies on topics in social emergency medicine, leadership, and research methodology.

Community engagement experience

Externs will participate in structured community engagement experiences, including activities sponsored by MIMS (Mentoring in Medicine and Sciences, http://www.mimscience.org) such as mentoring local high school and undergraduate students, visiting community-based organizations, and meeting community leaders, and exposure to advocacy and public health policy issues of Alameda County and emergency medicine nationally.

FAQs

Who can apply?

This opportunity is open to US medical students in good standing who can dedicate 6-8 continuous weeks to spend at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA.  Candidates must have successfully completed the first year of medical school and have submitted a complete application packet.  Immunizations for clinical practice must also be up to date.

Where does the externship program take place?

Highland Hospital- Alameda Health System. The Emergency Department at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA is a Level 1 trauma center and STEMI receiving center with an annual census of over 90,000 patients. We serve one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in the US. Highland Hospital is an affiliated Undergraduate Medical Education site for University of California, San Francisco, but has its own free-standing Graduate Medical Education office, housing Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine residencies (www.highlandemergency.org).

IS there a stipend?

Externs will receive a $3500 fellowship stipend intended to defray costs of living.