Strange Animals: Perspectives from Two Institutions Building Communities for First Generation Medical Students
This interactive workshop is designed to draw awareness to the unique struggles faced by first generation students as they navigate medical education and training and to identify strategies to support these students. First generation medical students (often defined as those who are first in their family to obtain a four-year degree) represent an important intersectional demographic whose life experiences can function as both an asset and a burden as they prepare to work in a medical system plagued by social inequities and systemic injustice.
This workshop will review the valuable assets these students bring to the physician workforce, including empathy and firsthand insight to many health disparities, as well as challenges germane to the first generation experience, including impostor syndrome, family and financial stressors, and lack of professional networks. Although AAMC recognizes first generation students as a noteworthy group, few medical schools have implemented administrative programs tailored to support first generation students through the struggles that may complicate their medical school and residency experiences. We will discuss initiatives underway at two medical schools working to build first generation communities. Using "gamestorming," we will help participants consider strategies to support first generation students at their own institutions to help this group reach their full potential.
This workshop will review the valuable assets these students bring to the physician workforce, including empathy and firsthand insight to many health disparities, as well as challenges germane to the first generation experience, including impostor syndrome, family and financial stressors, and lack of professional networks. Although AAMC recognizes first generation students as a noteworthy group, few medical schools have implemented administrative programs tailored to support first generation students through the struggles that may complicate their medical school and residency experiences. We will discuss initiatives underway at two medical schools working to build first generation communities. Using "gamestorming," we will help participants consider strategies to support first generation students at their own institutions to help this group reach their full potential.