American Medical Student Association

Race, Ethnicity and Culture in Health

Mission:

The Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Health committee aims to reduce health disparities between different racial, ethnic and cultural groups through advocacy, education, and service.

Our goals include strengthening cultural competency in medical education, promoting diversity of the physician workforce, and empowering future physicians to actively engage in the political and social movement towards health equity.

“Health equity is within our REACH”

Get Involved

• Health Equity Leadership Institute
  January 15-17, 2010
  The Health Equity Leadership Institute will provide participants with intensive didactic and hands-on experiential training to identify and address health inequities. The institute will include training for and an opportunity to lobby on Capitol Hill on health equity relevant legislation.

• Health Equity Week of Action:
  This week will focus on education and direct action to foster change in our communities on health equity and health disparity issues. Watch for more specifics to come from your REACH regional coordinators in the future! 
  Date: TBA
  

• Background fact sheet on Health Disparities for Lobbying Statistics

• Lobbying talking points for the Health Equity and Accountability Act

WATCH FOR THESE UPCOMING PROJECTS-IN-A-BOX:

• Cultural Competency Workshop Run by Medical/Premedical Students Toolkit: Training for student presenters to provide a plenary session and interactive activities to their peers in order to strengthen the cultural competency of the participants .

• Host a Health Disparity Expert at Your School: A list of speakers with expertise in health disparities from various institutions across all regions will be contacted and upon confirmation provided as resources for both medical and premedical students.

• TEACH (Teen Education and Careers in Healthcare) Service in a Box: To increase the diversity of the physician workforce, we believe that students must be exposed to careers in healthcare as early as possible. The TEACH initiative works to foster interest in healthcare by providing information about healthcare careers in a fun and comprehensible way to underserved middle and high school students.

• Prison Health Program: A service initiative to provide basic health education to inmates in local jail facilities.

Resources

• The New Physician Magazine Article Archives
  Minority Health

• Project Ideas
  Interested in minority health? Get ideas on projects you can do in your local community!

• AAMC Minority Student Resources

• Kaiser Family Foundation: Minority Health

• Office of Minority Health