Student Organization Updates
Pritzker Community Service Fellowship
By MS4 students Faraz Ahmad, Marissa DeFreitas, Jeffrey Eisen, and Christina Jarosch
Pritzker student Sarah Tammy Tsang, Betsy King, Faraz Ahmad, Mechelle Miller, and Jeff Eisen at Gary Comer College Prep.
In July 2007, a group of fourth-year Pritzker medical students founded a group called the Pritzker Community Service Fellowship (PCSF). After finishing the whirlwind of third year, Mia Lozada, Martha Johnson, Jen McDonnell, and Allison Stark felt somewhat disconnected from their early medical school work, in which they had spent significant time as leaders of Pritzker's various community service programs. Those experiences had been an integral part of their medical school experience and had reinforced the ideals that had originally drawn them to the field. They perceived a need for a program to increase student involvement in service-learning across all four years.
The goal of PCSF is to create a community of like-minded Pritzker students and faculty dedicated to lifelong service and advocacy in underserved areas. The core components of the program are monthly meetings focused on skill building and peer mentoring, quarterly meetings with a faculty mentor, and participation in a service-learning project of the fellow's choice. Before turning over leadership to members of the Class of 2009, the founders were able to build a community of 32 fellows, organize six monthly meetings, pair each student with a faculty mentor, garner institutional support from medical school and hospital administrators, and obtain outside funding through a grant from the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.
(front to back) Corey Bills, Becca Wolsky, Betsy King, Mechelle Miller, Eric Chen, Faraz Ahmad
This year, we hope to build upon this strong foundation. Events this year have included a Picnic at the Point and a tour at the Gary Comer Youth Center (GCYC), a South Side organization developed to help students achieve high school education and preparedness for post-high school education. Plans for future meetings include hearing about the challenges of running a community hospital from Mercy Hospital CEO Sister Sheila Lyne, learning about community- based participatory research from Dr. Deborah Burnet, Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, and developing skills in public speaking from an expert in the field. Our goal is to graduate fellows dedicated to lifelong service and equipped with the skills to become leaders in public service.
Another goal of the organization is to make service-learning more structured and integrated into all four years of the medical school curriculum. This is an opportune time to achieve this goal with the launch of the Pritzker Initiative and the Urban Health Initiative. This effort will include partnering with the Gary Comer Youth Center (GCYC) to develop a health and nutrition curriculum and assisting in the development of the new service learning and community health track in the Pritzker Initiative.
In October, after a monthly meeting open to all interested students, applications will be made available. For more information about this group, please visit our recently launched website, created by Fellow Imge Hulur, MS2 at the PCSF website.
