PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The Brown Student Community Clinic is just one of many ways that Alpert Medical School students volunteer to improve the health of Rhode Islanders. Medical students have formed more than 20 organizations that contribute not only to direct clinical care of the uninsured but also to advocacy for refugees and asylum seekers, concussion awareness, and healthy habits among local children:
The number of students engaged in service and advocacy made a quick and deep impression on Dr. Jack A. Elias when he arrived as the new dean of medicine and biological sciences last September.
“Alpert Medical School is one of the most socially conscious schools I’ve ever seen,” Elias said. “Our faculty and our student body are deeply engaged in the community, typically working with the underserved. We’re proud of their efforts and the difference they make in the lives of people in greater Providence.”
The emphasis on community involvement was also what motivated students such as Penn graduate Sarah Iosifescu to choose the Alpert Medical School.
“One of the reasons I chose Brown over other programs was that I found Brown to be the most innovative in encouraging their students to think outside the standard medical curriculum, to do things in the community and get involved in a more ‘entrepreneurial’ way,” Iosifescu said. “One of the reasons I chose to get involved with the Rhode Island Free Clinic is that it is a great way to get involved in the community and also to give back.”
(Return to A night at the Brown Student Community Clinic.)
(See also recent coverage in the Providence Journal of Brown medical students and the Brown Human Rights Asylum Clinic.)