Mentorship

The Underserved Pathway mentorship is a longitudinal relationship to support students’ interest and commitment to caring for people who are underserved. Working with a mentor provides early and regular exposure to practicing physicians who can offer valuable insights into what it is like to care for underserved populations. Students are required to meet with their mentor once per quarter, either in person, by phone, or through e-mail.

Underserved Pathway mentors are health care providers from across the WWAMI region who are involved in the care of underserved populations in a variety of capacities. These mentors are there to answer questions, provide advice, and to support students through their education and professional development. Please read on for important information about completing the mentorship.

Mentorship Policy:
Students will take the lead in identifying a suitable mentor. Mentors may be physicians or other health professionals (one or more) with whom students have an existing mentoring relationship or with whom they wish to develop a relationship. Our goal is to have all students matched with an identified mentor by the end of fall quarter of second year. This gives first year students a chance to explore possibilities through preceptorships, the colleges, RUOP, service learning experiences etc. And we know that many first year students will be matched during that year.

3rd and 4th year students (New): The UP is a curriculum that spans medical school. Entering in the third or fourth year is really predicated on documenting that the selectives, service, III, mentoring and clerkships had a focus on the underserved, even though the student had not formally applied to the UP. Therefore, new applicants currently in third and fourth year of medical school will be considered on a case by case basis. Having a mentoring relationship and having demonstrated interest in and work with underserved populations will be the main criteria for acceptance.

TRUST Students: Successful completion of the Underserved Pathway is required for TRUST completion. Most TRUST students will most likely be matched via TRUST activities. If support is needed to identify a mentor, UP staff and faculty are available and TRUST student mentor-matching will take priority.

If the student no longer feels that maintaining a relationship with the “official” assigned mentor is beneficial, we request that students please notify the UP program coordinator immediately so the mentor may be matched with another student. This scenario is not unusual, as student interests and other factors shift throughout medical school. The student is then responsible for identifying a new mentor. UP faculty and staff are available to discuss options with you.