"It taught me that no matter where you started from, you can make it if you try." - Student participant
Bringing role models, skill enhancement, and medical education into schools to empower youth.
The Family Medicine Bridging the Gap pipeline program aims to increase opportunities for students from racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds and disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue careers in health care.
The program was designed to shape aspirations, build interest in the field of medicine, and provide fundamental skills development to help promote matriculation and retention of underrepresented minorities in higher education and the health sciences. Underrepresented minorities (URMs) make up a disproportionately small percentage of medical school applicants, matriculants, physicians, and faculty physicians relative to the general US population.
The program partners the UCLA Family Medicine Residency program and UCLA Health with local high schools in the communities the residency serves, bringing role models and medical education to underserved and underrepresented communities. The Family Medicine Bridging the Gap curriculum covers a variety of topics meant to empower our high school youth. Interactive real-life medical cases are built into each session. The program's ultimate goal is to develop student leaders that will become leaders in healthcare, who will serve the underserved communities they grew up in.
"It opened my eyes to so many different things that I have [a] passion for now." - Student participant
Director Yohualli B. Anaya, MD, MPH, founded the program in 2015, and since then the program has expanded to serve over 150 students each year. For more information, go to gouclafamilymed.org/family-medicine-bridging-gap.
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