Advancing Health Podcast
Equity Education for Future Leaders
A summer internship program growing in Brooklyn is introducing minority high school students to community health and issues of health care equity. The Health Disparities Summer Internship Program is part of the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center (BHDC), a partnership between SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President. Funded by a 2009 NIH grant, this internship enables minority students to learn about different aspects of health care access from health professionals, researchers and health advocates. Students are placed with community-based organizations to conduct research and improve their writing and presentation skills. After completing the program, the number of students who say they are “very interested” in a career in minority health care has increased by nearly 19 percent. Students say they intend to educate, help, or do research in communities. The program has been duplicated in the form of a health equity externship for Caribbean secondary school students in Trinidad.
A summer internship program growing in Brooklyn is introducing minority high school students to community health and issues of health care equity. The Health Disparities Summer Internship Program is part of the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center (BHDC), a partnership between SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President. Funded by a 2009 NIH grant, this internship enables minority students to learn about different aspects of health care access from health professionals, researchers and health advocates. Students are placed with community-based organizations to conduct research and improve their writing and presentation skills. After completing the program, the number of students who say they are “very interested” in a career in minority health care has increased by nearly 19 percent. Students say they intend to educate, help, or do research in communities. The program has been duplicated in the form of a health equity externship for Caribbean secondary school students in Trinidad.
For more information, contact Pamela D. Straker, Ph.D., program coordinator, at pamela.straker@downstate.edu.
The AHA and its partners in the National Call to Action to Eliminate Health Care Disparities advocate greater diversity in leadership positions, so hospitals and care systems will reflect the communities they serve and gain valuable perspectives for improvements.
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