Tag: community service

Stephen Conn Stephen Conn (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Geisel School of Medicine

Stephen is a second year medical student at Geisel School of Medicine in Hanover, New Hampshire, class of 2022. In 2007, he graduated from Pomona College with a Bachelor of Arts in linguistics and cognitive science. He enjoys cooking, exercise, and reading in his spare time, as well as working on technology projects. After graduating medical school, Stephen would like to pursue a career in primary care.




The Healthcare Workers Childcare Co-op: How Medical Students are Using Technology to Mobilize in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published by Stephen Conn

The COVID-19 pandemic has relegated medical students to the sidelines of clinical duty. Cancellation of in-person class and clinical rotations combined with protocols for social distancing have left us without our normally packed schedules and to-do lists. Eager to help, many have begun grassroots efforts to support physicians and other frontline health care workers outside of clinical settings and beyond typical roles.

Volunteering in Medical School

Published by Jordan Perchik

In our undergraduate careers and as far back as high school, we were encouraged, and often required, to volunteer and serve our community. Whether it was a project we believed in or just something to put on our resumes, volunteering was a part of every medical student’s life before enrolling. As classes have grown more hectic and free time becomes scarcer throughout the years, service activities are often cut from the schedule. It is not unusual for medical students to leave behind passions; I know concert violinists who no longer play, Division I athletes who no longer compete, and people who traveled all over the world that never leave the library.

Preserving Human Rights as a Medical Student

Published by Emily Grodinsky

Medicine is the career path I have chosen to pursue, and I feel grateful to live in a city I adore while I work in a field I love. I have long taken for granted that I can make choices about where I want my life to go because of the freedoms I have in this country, because of my family and friends’ support, and because of the resources that are available to me. Ultimately, …

Barrio Tlaxcala: The Importance of Service and International Perspective in Medical School

Published by Stefan Czestochowski

I began volunteering at an interesting time in Chiapas. My medical school was gracious enough to let me participate in a year-long project in Mexico between my second and third years working and teaching for VIVA, an international volunteer group lead by Darinel Ballianas. In June of 2013, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto began introducing laws to restructure the educational and health systems of the country. If passed, they would further privatize the country’s health care …

Foster Care: The Imperfect Solution

Published by Marci Fornari

It was an unusually warm Saturday in October, and my alarm started buzzing. I wanted so badly to shut it off, but my conscience told me this was not an option. I had to get up so that I could go help my fellow classmates weed and plant at the community garden. This is because part of the curriculum at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) includes 40 hours of community service a year. …

Examining Altruism in Medical Student Volunteer Work: A Reply to Pham’s Article

Published by Sian Hsiang-Te Tsuei

Author’s note: This article was written by Sian Hsiang-Te Tsuei and Amy Po-Yu Tsai. Pham (2013) questioned medical students’ underlying reason for volunteering to perform physical exams at free clinics and concluded in the article “Volunteering in Medical School: A Waste of Time?” that volunteering will never be a waste of time because medical students matriculate to “improve the quality of life for humankind, to service the underserved and to advocate for our patients who …

Of Meatballs and Medicine

Published by Danielle Roberts

“Would you like one meatball or two?” The words stumbled off my tongue as I smiled sheepishly at the people I was serving dinner to. Throughout my first few weeks of medical school, I had frequently experienced the same acute awareness of my own inadequacy. From long hours spent in the gross anatomy lab in a mixed state of amazement, perplexity and reverence, to the scrutiny of seemingly cryptic pink shapes in histology lab, I …

Street Medicine Detroit

Published by Paul Thomas

Editor’s note: This article was originally published here by contributing writer Paul Thomas. This morning, I had the good fortune of practicing medicine in a homeless shelter with Street Medicine Detroit (SMD). SMD is a student-run organization at Wayne State University School of Medicine that ventures out into the community and provides compassionate medical care to the underserved and homeless of Detroit. Because of the cold weather in Michigan, our “street run” took place inside a church just off …

Volunteering in Medical School: A Waste of Time?

Published by Jimmy Tam Huy Pham

“Are you going to sign up to volunteer this quarter?” I asked my classmate after hearing about an upcoming volunteering opportunity for a homeless shelter clinic. “Volunteering? Why?” came a brisk and seemingly astonished response from her. “Uh, well, it’s a good opportunity to gain some clinical skills,” I responded, “and don’t you wanna have some volunteering experience when you apply for residency?” “It’s a waste of time! Residencies only care about good grades and …

A Night at the Homeless Shelter

Published by Jimmy Tam Huy Pham

Tonight is not any different. A list of twenty-five patients to be seen. A standing room full of eager volunteer medical students — who just can’t wait to do some doctoring — and a lone attending physician, a family physician who probably enjoys seeing the medical students acting important, walking around with their shiny stethoscopes around their necks, more than anything else. On second thought, maybe the doctor is here every week because he wants …

What the Doctors Know and What the Doctors Don’t Know

Published by Rachel Kim

Since the beginning of medical school, I have always been astonished at the fact that my preceptors often had no idea what was going on with their patients. Many times, they resorted to prescribing Tylenol, simply telling their patients to come back if the condition became worse. Gastric ulcer? Tylenol. Terrible headache? Tylenol. Joint aches? Tylenol. Period cramps? Tylenol. Of course, they were family doctors with years and years of experience, but it came to …

A Simple Question

Published by Jimmy Tam Huy Pham

Last weekend, I had an opportunity to participate at a community clinic in conducting physical examinations that includes a thorough male genital check for inguinal herniations.  It was an organized event which occurs yearly “to promote the well-being of high school and college student athletes by providing comprehensive physical screenings, free of charge, to all students participating in interscholastic athletics or allied activities” with the help of healthcare student volunteers (medical, dental, nursing, or physician …

Jimmy Tam Huy Pham Jimmy Tam Huy Pham (4 Posts)

Columnist and Editor Emeritus: Former Medical Student Editor (2012-2015)

Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine

Jimmy is residing in Phoenix, Arizona. He received his undergraduate degrees from California State University of Long Beach. Actively involved in research, his interests include internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, and medical humanities.

Jimmy also volunteers at local community events and non-profit clinics in the Phoenix, Arizona and Orange County, California areas. Web: jimmytamhuypham.com