We're not healthy until we all are healthy
Now, more than ever before, the world needs what we do best. At MSM, we believe that instilling cultural competence in our future physicians is a key part of closing the health equity gap.
Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG
President and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine
Every day, CommonSpirit sees that community health will only result when a culturally competent workforce engages with, reflects, and includes every person. Reversing the effects of systemic racism requires a long-term commitment, like the one we’ve made in the More in Common Alliance.
Wright Lassiter III
CEO of CommonSpirit Health
Progress is well underway
The More in Common Alliance has defined a comprehensive slate of strategic priorities that range from engagement in local “pipeline” and “pathway” programs through creating a national model of thought leadership on representation and its role in health equity.
Two key strategic initiatives already showing meaningful impact are expansion of medical education at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
Undergraduate Medical Education
Intrinsically linked with the More in Common Alliance strategy of recruiting first- and second-year medical students to Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, the model of providing clinical rotations in their third and fourth years at a regional campus is a proven strategy to grow health care capacity in those regions.
Whether these students seek to complete their undergraduate medical education close to home and family, or whether they have other motivations, the regional campus model offers students varied clinical experiences caring for diverse patient populations in under-resourced, under-served communities, as well as exposure to providers that excel in caring for these populations. It helps to expand their cultural humility.
Three such clinical training sites are already operating at CommonSpirit Health facilities, with several more in planning stages:
2021
CHI Memorial, Chattanooga, TN2022
Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, Seattle, WA
St. Joseph East, Lexington, KY
2024
Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Bakersfield, CAGraduate Medical Education
Over its ten-year focus, the More in Common Alliance has set the ambitious goal of expanding residency training capacity threefold, to nearly 400 slots sited at ten CommonSpirit Health facilities in strategic locations across the country. This expansion will not only afford a greater proportion of underrepresented graduates the opportunity to complete their training with less delay, it will also increase the likelihood that those trained physicians will put down roots in these communities, improving representation and access in the places that need it most.
While establishing a residency program is a huge undertaking in terms of site selection, faculty development, and accreditation, one program is poised to welcome its first cohort of residents in Summer 2024, while four more are in successive planning stages to launch over the next four years.
“We serve our local Santa Cruz County community, which is vastly diverse. The residents will have exposure to our entire practice – they’ll be part of our team. They’ll have their own panel of patients assigned to them, and they’ll be the primary care providers for those patients. They’ll see the patient who has a sprained ankle, the next patient who has diabetes, then a patient who has substance use disorder. The collaboration, discussion, and shared approaches to things is part of why I think we’re successful.”
Residency and Fellowship programs
2024
2025
2026
2028
Join Us
If you believe in the advancement of health equity in underserved communities, we need your support.
Your commitment will establish infrastructure and ensure long-term sustainability of programs through endowed and named opportunities and support for capital needs:
- Campus buildings
- Student housing
- Equipment
- Endowed faculty
- Programmatic support
- Research programs
- Student scholarships
The More in Common Alliance will focus our combined resources, reach, expertise, and experience to address health disparities among underserved populations. Together, Morehouse School of Medicine and CommonSpirit Health can improve — and transform — lives by making better access, quality, delivery, and equity in healthcare a reality for everyone.
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partnerships@moreincommonalliance.orgIn the news
