communities in Maine with the goal of getting more minorities interested in pursuing medicine. The general idea is that we will go in and give presentations, outlining what it means to pursue a career in medicine and giving the students ideas about how to get started on the right track.” Sam Culver, COM ’21, former President of SOMA, was particularly interested in cultivating a mentoring initiative with high school students that would focus on applicable skills to help students apply for school, such as building a resume, how to look for scholarships, and how to highlight transferable skills. She is currently on a Health Disparities Task Force for SOMA with COM faculty, Dr. Susan Wehry.
Of these and other diversity initiatives taking shape at UNE COM, Dr. Arafat professes, “At UNE COM we believe that a diverse and inclusive environment is key to achieving excellence in our missions of education, patient care, and research. We believe that our mission and values will create and nurture our COM graduates to provide compassionate and culturally-sensitive care to the diverse patient population that they serve.” We look forward to the continued leadership, commitment, and inspiration of students, faculty and staff in the coming years, and are in great anticipation of their unabated success.
References:
1. Sorensen, J., Norredam, M., Dogra, N., Essink-Bot, M. L., Suurmond, J., & Krasnik, A. (2017). Enhancing cultural competence in medical education. International journal of medical education, 8, 28–30. doi:10.5116/ijme.587a.0333
2. UNE Strategic Plan: Priority IV: A Welcoming, Inclusive, and Vibrant Community: UNE Community, Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee. https://www.une.edu/president/strategicplan/priorities/welcoming-community
3. Cohen, Rachel D. (2019). Medical Students Push For More LGBT Health Training To Address Disparities. NPR.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/01/20/683216767/medical-students-push-for-more-lgbt-health-training-to-address-disparities
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