Community Medicine - Seminars & Projects
Seminars
Fellows attend weekly seminars for the first 6 months of the fellowship followed by bi-monthly seminars on essential principles of public health and community medicine. Topics include health policy, program development and evaluation, health care disparities, leadership and faculty development, culturally competent care and social determinants of health. The curriculum is broken into six sections. Each seminar is presented by a different leader in public health and/or community medicine. Here is a sample of the seminar schedule:
2023-2024 Sample Seminar Topics |
| Section 1. Kaiser Permanente Community Health: Understanding national and local Community Health strategy |
| Understanding local Community Heath Needs Assessment Pearls of Wisdom from Outgoing CMF Fellows |
| Kaiser Permanente Bernard Tyson School of Medicine: Partnerships in undergraduate medical education |
| Kaiser Permanente Regional Professional Development & Research: The potential for interprofessional collaborations across KP Programs and community organizations |
| Kaiser Permanente Center for Healthy Living: Patient educational resources ad programs available to community partners |
| Public Affairs and the Media: Leveraging social media to advance community health agenda |
| Section 2. Planning, Implementing and Evaluating a Community Based Project |
| Quality/Performance Improvement I: Understanding model for improvement tool |
| Quality/Performance Improvement II: Defining your project |
| Quality/ Performance Improvement III: Project evaluation |
| Conducting Research: Research methods and resources |
| Community-Based Participatory Research |
| Section 3. Faculty Development: Becoming an Effective Medical Educator |
| Train the trainer: Leading DE&I workshops |
| Strengthening your skills as a coach and a mentor |
| Giving feedback on the spot |
| Making Positive Changes in Healthcare: Appreciative Inquiry |
| Addressing well-being among residents and students |
| Culturally Responsive Care |
| Section 4. Health Policy and Public Health |
| LA County Department of Public Health Center for Health Equity: Understanding health inequities in LA County |
| LA County Department of Public Health: Overview of Communicable Disease Control |
| Resident Elective in Health Policy: Two week intensive elective |
| APHA (American Public Health Association) Annual Conference: 4 day conference. (Conference registration, travel and lodging included) |
| Community Clinic Association of LA County: Policy and advocacy work at the state and national level: A breakdown of current bills in front of state legislatures and Congress |
| Section 5. Advocacy/ Skills Training: Becoming an Effective Community Advocate & Leader |
| Advocacy & Leadership |
| Leadership Development: Strengths Finder 2.0 |
| Workshop: Op Ed Writing |
| Workshop: Networking |
| Workshop: Business of Medicine |
| Workshop: Resiliency in the face of microaggressions |
| Section 6. Community Clinic/ Organizations & Government Partnerships |
| Wellness Center @ LAC-USC: Resource center for community wellness |
| Neighborhood Legal Services: Medical-legal community partnerships to address social determinants of health |
| Kheir Clinic: Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Funding |
| Free Clinic of Simi Valley: Community free clinic funding |
| Bienestar: Health disparities and care of LGBTQ population |
| Wesley Clinic: Health disparities and care of unhoused patient population |
| LA Food Policy Council: Addressing food insecurity & food deserts |
| California Wellness Foundation: The role of foundations in advancing community health |
Projects
Fellows also collaborate with community stakeholders to design and implement a specific health intervention or community based project of their choosing. These interventions build capacity by introducing tools of integrated healthcare – i.e. quality measurement, chronic care management, and health education – to low-resource settings.
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1. Community Clinic Initiatives & Capacity Building |
| Kaiser Physical Therapy and Community Medicine Collaboration: A collaboration between the Orange County, Woodland Hills, and Los Angeles Community Medicine fellows. Fellows partnered with the Kaiser Permanente regional physical therapy residency program to provide free physical therapy services to community clinics served by the Community Medicine fellows. |
| Kheir Clinic and Root Down LA collaboration: Community Medicine fellow secured grant to provide health education and free cooking classes to diabetic patients at Kheir clinic in collaboration with Root Down LA, a local teaching kitchen and community garden initiative. |
| LGBT Mental Health Initiative at Lestonnac Free Clinic: Community Medicine Fellow created a referral network for local LGBT centers to send uninsured patients to Lestonnac Free Clinic for free mental health care. |
| Diabetic Care management program: Community Medicine fellow partnered with local FQHC to train health educators/care managers on the basics of diabetes and secondary disease prevention. Fellow developed standing order sets for vaccines, labs, retinal screening and diabetic foot exams. |
| UC Irvine Student Run Free Clinic Community Medicine fellow partnered with UC Irvine undergraduate students and medical students to start a self-sustaining student run free clinic. The clinic is staffed by Kaiser Permanente and UC Irvine volunteer faculty and provide free medical services to the Santa Ana community of Orange County on a weekly basis. |
| Multidisciplinary Behavioral Health Clinic: Increased access to behavioral health at community clinic by implementation of patient support groups led by volunteer behavioral health physicians for patients with mild to moderate MDD. Community Medicine fellow also collaborated with Kaiser Permanente Orange County family medicine residency to start a multidisciplinary behavioral health clinic staffed by Family Medicine residents and supervised by attending psychiatrist for more severe MDD. |
| Mindfulness and Meditation Program: Community Medicine fellow established monthly classes to teach patients meditation through classes and Apps for home use at a community clinic. Progress was tracked through PHQ9 and GAD7 scores. |
| Integrative Comprehensive Weight Loss Program: Through a personalized team-based approach including nutrition assessment, exercise plan, and behavior therapy under the guidance of a medical physician, the program aimed to empower individuals to make their health primary and to improve the health of the community. Furthermore, graduates of the program were recruited to be health coaches for incoming cohort of patients. |
2. Pipeline Initiatives |
| Kaiser LAMC- Helen Bernstein STEM Internship: Community Medicine fellow developed an annual internship program that hosts 10 high school students in collaboration with the Kaiser Permanente LAMC internal medicine residency program. Students are exposed to hospital and clinic settings, and a state of the art medical simulation center. Student receive one-on-one mentorship from the Community Medicine fellow and medical residents. Upon completion of the 3-month internship, they each receive a partial academic scholarship. |
| Helen Bernstein STEM Thrive Academy: Community Medicine Fellow developed a summer program offered to high school sophomores and juniors, giving them an opportunity to explore the problems surrounding their community with the help of college mentors. Students have the chance to go on educational field trips as well as educating their community about health issues. At the end of the course, students present their findings in a health fair to medical professionals. |
| Undergraduate Minority Externship Program: Community Medicine fellow created program hosting one local pre-health undergraduate every 3 months at Kaiser Permanente Santa Ana and Lestonnac Free Clinic to introduce them to family and community medicine. |
| Minority Mentorship Program: Community Medicine Fellow created weekly program for fellow to meet one-on-one with local minority undergraduates in Orange County to assist in applying for and getting admitted to health professions colleges. |
3. Medical Education Programs |
| Medical student Community Medicine elective rotation: A collaboration between the pediatric, internal medicine, and family medicine Community Medicine fellows at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles medical center and the family medicine fellow at Woodland Hills. Open via VSAP, this rotation provides 4th year medical students an opportunity to learn more about community medicine and health advocacy. |
| Collaboration with California University of Science and Medicine: Community Medicine fellow started a 1st year medical student shadowing experience. |
| Resident Community Medicine Elective: Community Medicine fellows developed curriculum for family medicine and internal medicine resident electives. Fellows supervised residents on rotation at various community clinics. Community Medicine fellows organized tours to the Wellness Center, providing residents more exposure to community health resources and advocacy organizations. |
4. Global Health Initiatives |
| Victoria Hospital Cape Town South Africa: The Community Medicine fellow volunteered time at Victoria Hospital teaching local medical students and started a fundraiser to support local co-ed youth soccer organization. The Community Medicine fellow also provided primary care to underserved population at various community health centers. |
| Guatemala Medical Mission: The Community Medicine fellow along with the Program Director volunteered on a medical mission in the highlands of Guatemala to provide medical services and health education to primarily Mayan indigenous community. The fellow established a consult line to connect with volunteer specialists in the US. |
| Refugee Health Alliance: In partnership with UCSD residents and other volunteers, the Community Medicine fellow joined with the Refugee Health Alliance to staff volunteer trips across the border into Tijuana. The volunteers provide medical services to refugees at various refugee encampments in Tijuana. |
| Needs Assessment of Rural Community in India: Using photojournalism as a means of identifying community strengths and needs, the Community Medicine fellow partnered with a local women’s group to conduct a health needs assessment of the community which resulted in local government taking action to address identified needs. |
5. Other Projects |
| San Diego Community Health Fair: In partnership with Union of PanAsian Communities (UPAC), Kaiser Permanente San Diego residency program, UCSD pharmacy residency program, UCSD Flying Samaritans, the Community Medicine fellow organized an annual community health fair targeting immigrant/ refugee community of San Diego City Heights. |
| Collaboration with Reach Out Inland Coalition: The Community Medicine fellow created a health education curriculum based on current, state-mandated curriculum standards. Partnered with Kaiser Permanente Fontana family medicine residency program to train volunteer community college students to deliver curriculum to local high school students. |
| Student Based Health Center Initiative: The Community Medicine fellow partnered with high school faculty to increase awareness and use among high school students of services at the Hollywood High School Health Center. The program resulted in increased access of services by students. |
| Hablamos Juntos: In partnership with Westside Children’s Center, an early education and family center, and with UCLA undergraduate students, the Community Medicine fellow created a training class for parents of children with speech delay. The goal of the program is to improve school readiness and language achievement for students in low-income communities. |