SPARC: Community advocacy through a student‐led conference

Abstract

A group of medical students at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine noticed gaps in their curriculum pertaining to social determinants of health and community health advocacy. While other aspects of our curriculum allowed students to engage with clinical experience through continuity clinics and investigative research via independent research projects, no such avenue for direct engagement with advocacy existed formally in the preclinical curriculum. Students desire more learning outside of the classroom while interacting with the communities that they serve. 1