The Social Mission Committee: Establishing a Student-Based Organization to Advance Awareness of Socially Conscious Medicine.

Abstract

Purpose: One of the most fundamental purposes of medical education is to train future physicians in how to best care for the sick. 1 In response to national unrest, medical schools are being increasingly called to incorporate social determinants of health into their curriculum to best provide comprehensive, informed care. 2 Traditionally, medical schools often fail to emphasize social medicine within their school processes. We propose a student-driven approach to advance awareness and adoption of socially conscious medicine. Approach/Methods: The Social Mission Committee (SMC) is a student organization that was established in 2019, to stand as 1 of 4 pillar student organizations at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. 3 In partnership with school administration, 6 areas of focus were created into subcommittees to guide action: education, mentorship, recruitment, service, research, and evaluation. The organization functions with 2 copresidents, a director of operations, and 6 executive directors, under the guidance of 2 faculty co-advisors. Each executive director meets monthly with student organization members to work on projects that aim to improve social medicine awareness. Results: In its second full year, SMC has 129 students involved across all training levels, out of a student body of about 400 students. SMC has created 36 ongoing socially driven initiatives housed within different subcommittees. SMC has collaborated with 8 community partnerships including youth crisis groups, local prison initiatives, and refugee and immigrant support centers, and works closely with the university’s Office of Health Equity and the Meharry Vanderbilt Alliance. In addition, SMC regularly collaborates with 7 student organizations to promote diverse and social medicine-oriented events, including cultural organizations (Latino Medical Student Association, Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association, and Student National Medical Association), an organization of first-generation medical students, the school’s global health organization, and the school’s student-run free clinic. SMC’s mentorship committee has recruited 33 physician mentors, ranging from specialties including Internal Medicine, Obstetrics–Gynecology, and surgical subspecialties. Since its inception, the organization has created a comprehensive, digital Student Advocacy guide focused on specific patient populations with complex psychosocial needs. The organization has incorporated various social mission-oriented topics into the curriculum, including the addition of a case-based learning case on transgender health, 2 novel sessions on structural inequities and microaggressions in a longitudinal course, and a comprehensive proposal for longitudinal race medicine education in the curriculum. Discussion: Without changes in medical school education, the next generation of physicians will be ill-equipped to deal with equity issues as underlying racial and social biases are often reinforced throughout traditional medical training. 4 The SMC is a unique, student-based organization originally created to advance the mission statement of Vanderbilt with regards to promoting training of medical students on social determinants of health, advocacy, and health equity. The organization has created a significant impact in medical education, with over one-fourth of Vanderbilt’s student body involved. The success of this organization speaks to the impact student organizations can have on furthering social medicine within medical education. While emphasis on social determinants of health remains less prioritized within many medical school curriculums, student-based initiatives such as these are a novel, low-cost approach that can greatly enhance awareness of social medicine. Significance: Incorporation of social-centered aspects of patient care into the medical student curriculum is a critical component of medical training, as social determinant of health and health disparities often drive individual and community health. The SMC is an example of a student-based organization that aims to improve these aspects within the medical school, and its effectiveness demonstrates its utility in being a framework organization for other medical schools. Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge all members of the Vanderbilt Social Mission Committee and the Executive Board, including Samuel Massion, Aisha Suara, Victoria Lawson, Jacqueline Antoun, and Xavier Bledsoe.