Collaboration led by Medical and Business Schools to create, fund, and sustain student-led clinics benefitting Utah’s underserved populations

We propose a collaboration between multiple schools of the University of Utah to create, fund, and sustain five Student-led Clinics, as part of the Medical School’s new MD Program (mission-driven medical doctor program). Through an innovative model of service-learning, these clinics will provide excellent and affordable healthcare to underserved populations, including the undocumented, uninsured, and homeless. (AAMC ranked Utah as 49th or 50th, leading to poor health and quality of life in these communities). Faculty mentors, preceptors, and medical directors will collectively help students from multiple schools—starting with Medicine and Business—to apply healthcare and business knowledge to transform both student and patient lives, to improve health and quality of life, and to ensure long-term viability of the clinics through financial independence. The project is a start-up effort that will identify future opportunities for students to participate in capstones, internships, or post-doctoral level scholarly work in healthcare operations, population health, and social determinants of health. Through these efforts, we will support Utah’s vulnerable populations by improving access to healthcare for our uninsured and marginalized communities. Given these societal impacts, this seed effort has the strong potential to lead to acquisition of state or national funding as well as donations from private benefactors. Furthermore, given the broader needs of the populations served by these student-led clinics, the project has the potential to grow to involve students and faculty mentors from Dentistry, Education, Health, Law, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Work.