Summer Community Health Assistantship
Coordinated in conjunction with the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education and the MassAHEC Network, the Summer Community Health Assistantship offers rising second-year medical students the opportunity to work in a wide variety of community-based health, educational and human service organizations throughout the Commonwealth during the summer months.
The main goals of the program are to help students understand the connection between an individual’s health and a community’s health, enhance students’ understanding of community health care problems and needs of underserved populations, and provide community based organizations the opportunity to benefit from the fresh perspective and energy a student can bring to their agency or program. For the UMass Chan Medical School, the program establishes and strengthens relationships with community-based health, education and human service organizations that work with underserved populations across the state.
Students are responsible to complete an informational poster to be displayed at the Summer Student Poster Session along with those completed by students in the University's other summer student programs.
Past years' Summer Posters are available for viewing online to give you a sense of the types of placements and projects that are possible. Student directions for completing posters will be communicated by the Office for Undergraduate Medical Education.
We aim to address several community-identified needs each year, so among our opportunities are positions with long-standing community partners including:
- AIDS Project Worcester
- Worcester Healthy Baby Collaborative (Spanish language skills preferred)
- Worcester Refugee Assistance Project
- YWCA Central MA
- Clear Path at Devens
Students are also welcome to propose summer placements that allow them to continue work on existing partnerships and projects. Conversations are welcome - don't wait to reach out with ideas and questions. Contact Heather-Lyn Haley to discuss options in greater detail.
Past placement sites also include: Elder Services of Worcester, Pernet Family Health Services, the Family Health Center Worcester, the YWCA of Central MA, the Worcester Department of Public Health, the North Quabbin Community Coalition, the Edward M. Kennedy Health Center, and many others.
Funding for this program comes from the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education and the MassAHEC Network, which sponsors applicants from the Rural and Urban Health Scholars programs as needed.