Medical Student Research Forum Posters

The Transforming Education and Community Health for Medical Students (TEACH-MS) was created in 2011 and designed to be a “four-year tailored M.D program at the UC Davis School of Medicine for students with a strong interest in primary care for the urban underserved. The program fosters thisinterest through “rewarding community-based experiences” and ultimately aims to “improve access to effective, culturally respectful and equitable health services for underserved communities.” As of February2021, 31 alumni have participated in the TEACH-MS. However, there has not yet been a holistic evaluation of the impact of the TEACH-MS curriculum in preparing future physicians to care for urban underserved communities. The urgency for this investigation is also compounded in the setting of major overarching curricular changes at UC Davis School ofMedicine. There are elements of the current TEACH-MS curriculum that have been previously studied in wider academic research. Most notably, the longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC), which has historically been the pillar of TEACH-MS students’ clinical years, is a structure that has been shown to cultivate patientcenteredness, enhance learning relationships, and promote increased exposure to common social and health issues. However, other elements utilized in the TEACH-MS program, such as didactics and community projects, have previously shown to have variable outcomes in cultivating physicians’ capacityfor social action. Given that it has been a decade since the formation of the TEACH-MS track program, we believe that it isa critical time to assess and reflect on the program’s curriculum and direction. We hope that this project will serve as an opportunity to identify the strengths of the TEACH-MS track program and provide recommendations for curricular refinements.