This is a message from Estell Williams, MD:
Hello, I am an Emergency General Surgeon at the University of Washington and Executive Director of the Center for Workforce Inclusion and Healthcare System Equity (WIHSE) within the Office of Healthcare Equity (OHCE).
The vision of WIHSE is to lead our institution to decrease barriers to access careers in healthcare by developing innovative programming to improve diversity, equity and inclusion through multipronged ecosystem development, community outreach, advocacy and healthcare workforce diversification.
We achieve this vision through innovative programming that supports students traditionally underrepresented in medicine through their educational journey starting from K-12 through pre-application to professional school. One of our most established programs is the Doctor For A Day (DFAD) program.
Doctor For a Day (DFAD) ecosystem program is a STEM program that was created to address the shortage of underrepresented students of color in health careers. It was initially started by a University of Washington School of Medicine medical student Joy Thurman-Nguyen during her first year of medical school in 2014. Since its creation, it has grown to be a keystone in bridging the divide between the School of Medicine and the community bringing innovative curriculum and career exposure to marginalized communities in the greater Seattle Area.
The program runs once a month as a Saturday academy offering disease or organ system-based curriculum via hands-on experiential learning to K-12 students. It is run by medical student leads who bring together medical student, resident, fellow and faculty volunteers who lead the sessions. We are excited to have our annual call for applications to be in the next cohort of leads for this amazing program. Positions are as follows:
Medical Student Lead
- Act as the main point of contact to clinical departments for organizing sessions
- Work with Lead 2 to develop curriculum for each session
Volunteer Coordinator
- Work with lead to help define number of volunteers needed for each session
- Be the point of contact for medical students, residents and fellows volunteering for each session
- Maintain volunteer sign-up
- Ensure all volunteer trainings and required forms are completed for all volunteers
Social Media Coordinator
- Maintain DFAD social media accounts (Instagram, facebook, twitter and TikTok)
- Post regular content relating to STEM and shares resources for programs our student followers may need
- Post all information regarding registration for our DFAD events to social media platforms
Research Coordinator
- Manage pre- and post-surveys for all DFAD sessions
- Enter all survey data into an excel spreadsheet form to tracking of student participation and outcomes of participation
We invite you to consider applying for a position as a medical student lead within the Doctor For A Day (DFAD) Program. The application is now open and the deadline to apply is 11:59pm August 9, 2024. We will notify applicants of our decision on Friday, August 16, 2024. At this time positions are only available for students at the Seattle site. We hope to open this program up to regional locations in the future. Please click HERE to apply. If you have any questions about the program or the roles please contact me at estellw@uw.edu or Nora Coronado ncorona@uw.edu.
*Of note, as leads you will meet with the team bi-weekly for planning of monthly sessions and may require additional meetings as needed for planning. You will work as a team to coordinate sessions but will be directly responsible for tasks highlighted under your specific title. All leads will also be expected to be present at the sessions which include one Saturday per month October – May from 9am-2pm (with 1 hour prior for setup and 30 minutes after for clean-up). Additional sessions will include some weekday session with high schools. All leads will work closely with WIHSE leadership Dr. Estell Williams, Nora Coronado, Quin Nelson and other key WIHSE/OHCE personnel to organize and execute the DFAD sessions.