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 invited to explore the details of the program, which include participation in a cohort of community-engaged learners through regular reflective discussion sessions, and creation of 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 (see sidebar on the left) to give you a sense of the types of placements and projects that are possible.  Student directions for completing posters will be placed in the shared folder as the date nears.

We aim to address several community-identified needs each year, so among our opportunities are positions with long-standing community partners including:

1.  AIDS Project Worcester
2. Worcester Healthy Baby Collaborative (Spanish language skills preferred)
3. Worcester Refugee Assistance Project
4. YWCA Central MA
5. Clear Path at Devens

 Students can access the updated list of opportunities through this link.  Conversations are welcome - don't wait to reach out with ideas and questions. Contact Heather-Lyn Haley  to discuss options in greater detail. Watch this space and the SBC Scholarship Bulletin for opportunities post-deadline.

Past placement sites 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 in 2020 comes from the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education and the MassAHEC Network, which sponsors applicants from the Rural Health Scholars and the Urban Scholars programs. 

 To get a sense of the organization of the summer, here is the general Summer Assistantship schedule:

 Summer22 Schedule is now available.