The Urban Medicine Program at IU School of Medicine—Northwest-Gary is designed to prepare medical students to address the unique health care challenges that urban communities face. Factors such as poverty, unequal access to health care, lack of education, stigma and systemic racism are underlying factors of health inequities. The program focuses on health disparities, community engagement and developing cultural competence. It integrates our traditional medical curriculum with additional training in urban health issues, emphasizing public health, advocacy, health policy and social determinants of health.
This unique four-year MD program emphasizes:
-
Community Engagement
Students participate in service-learning projects and form partnerships with urban health care organizations in medically underserved communities. -
Specialized Curriculum
Including courses and workshops on urban health challenges, public health and advocacy with exposure to clinical experiences early in the training process. -
Scholarly Concentration Project
A requirement to complete a research manuscript, to carry into residency, addressing a specific urban health issue. -
Clinical Training
Rotations are often arranged in urban health care settings, such as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), to provide hands-on experiences in underserved areas.
Training Options in Gary
IU School of Medicine's Gary campus provides training to medical students from both the traditional MD program and urban medicine track. Students accepted into the Urban Medicine Program are required to complete all four years of study at the Northwest-Gary campus. The program strives to develop a culturally competent and uniquely well-rounded physician poised to serve urban communities.
Urban Medicine Program Alumni Satisfaction
Alumni report stellar preparation for externships and graduate medical education. Graduates from IU School of Medicine’s Northwest-Gary campus successfully match among their top choices of competitive residencies.
Apply to the Urban Medicine Program
Applicants are considered for the traditional MD and Urban Medicine programs simultaneously. Members from both Admissions Committees interview Urban Medicine applicants. All applicants must complete an AMCAS application and submit a separate request for the Urban Medicine Program.
Urban Medicine Program Goals
The Urban Medicine Program integrates basic and clinical sciences with a focus on urban medicine and medically underserved communities by focusing on social determinants of health and elevating diversity, equity, and inclusion work. The unique focus of the program seeks to have students:
- Demonstrate diversity, equity, and inclusion knowledge, attitude, and skills working in the context of urban medicine and with underserved patient populations.
- Demonstrate knowledge in the areas of social determinants of health, attitude and skills working in the context of urban medicine and with underserved patient populations.
- Demonstrate skill development across the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) continuum, working toward becoming a culturally competent practitioner.
- Demonstrate skills in collaborating with interdisciplinary teams in urban health settings.
The program also aims to increase the number of IU School of Medicine graduates who enter medical practice in an urban setting and medically underserved communities in all specialties.
Urban Medicine Program Contacts
Admissions
inmedadm@iu.edu or (317) 274-3772
Curriculum
ump@iu.edu or (219) 980-6551
Financial Aid
medaid@iu.edu
Admissions Office and Student Financial Services
635 Barnhill Drive Room 112
Van Nuys Medical Science Building
Indianapolis, IN 46202-5135
IU School of Medicine—Northwest-Gary
Amy W. Han, PhD
Director, Clinical Education
Assistant Director Clinical Psychiatry
Urban Medicine Program Director
3400 Broadway
Gary, IN 46408
(219) 980-6561
amyhan@iu.edu
MD Enrichment Programs in Northwest-Gary
A robust standardized patient program with six dedicated examination rooms for history and physical training ensures that students develop an early mastery of fundamental clinical skills in the first year of medical school and gain the skills and knowledge needed for graduation, residency, internships and a success career as a physician. Educating physicians to practice effectively in urban settings requires an emphasis on a broad range of clinical topics and skills specific to this work environment. In the Urban Medicine Program, students practice these hands-on skills in a federally qualified health center, experiencing continuity with a patient panel, peers, preceptors and a population over time. This clinical environment connects the statewide MD curriculum to real-world communities in Gary.
Early immersion in urban health care leads to a deeper understanding of the meaningful long-term relationships patients, physicians and communities develop over time. From the first semester of medical school, students in the urban medicine track will participate in a preceptorship program with local physicians, develop long-term professional relationships with underserved patient populations, and gain insight into the social and cultural aspects of urban health care. Medical students in the urban medicine program are assigned to a clinic team that actively manages a patient panel in a team environment and monitors quality metrics through all four years of medical school. Students will quickly develop a relationship with their patients while advocating for their patients, panel, and community.
The Urban Medicine Program is designed to make a difference in the Gary community. The program is committed to helping improve the lives of residents through service-learning throughout the four-year curriculum. These partnerships strengthen medical education while impacting the community through efforts such as COVID mitigation testing and vaccination clinics, mobile clinics to serve underrepresented minority communities, addressing cancer rates in minority populations, and addressing food insecurity with the Northwest Indiana Foodbank. Students will engage in service throughout their four-year medical education and develop a service-learning educator's portfolio to carry into residency.
The Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration provides students with an understanding of the historical and contemporary barriers that exist for the nation’s medically underserved in urban areas. Through coursework, students will investigate authentic cross-cultural and linguistic issues in health care and be able to demonstrate how sensitivity to such issues improves health care for all. Through scholarly project work, students will act as advocates by developing interventions to address or reduce health disparities. The scholarly concentration is a requirement of the Urban Medicine Program and will culminate in a community based participatory research manuscript.
The IU School of Medicine Northwest-Gary campus offers more than 30 electives and clerkships for fourth-year medical students, giving each student ample opportunity to pursue focused training in specific areas of interest. In addition to this flexibility for planning an individual program, students benefit from extensive support and guidance. Elective courses in both the basic sciences and clinical sciences are designed to widen the overall student experience in medical education. The electives portfolio also provides students with opportunities to strengthen areas of weakness and/or pursue subjects of special interest.
Student Spotlights
news.iu.edu
IU trains physicians to practice in rural and urban areas of critical need
The United States is facing a daunting physician shortage. According to a recent national address from American Medical Association President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, more than 83 million people in the United States live in areas without sufficient access to a primary-care physician.
IU School of Medicine is tackling the challenge with two unique programs designed to train and retain physicians where they are needed most: in medically underserved rural and urban areas.
MedEd Matters
First cohort enters Urban Medicine program at IU School of Medicine-Northwest
Medical students in the Urban Medicine program at IU School of Medicine-Northwest benefit from the statewide MD curriculum offered at all campuses with an added emphasis on social determinants of health and elevating diversity, equity and inclusion in the context of urban, underserved patient populations.