Community Health Clerkship

Introduction

The Community Health Clerkship is an applied learning experience designed to help develop in Brown University medical students the knowledge, skills and perspectives of community health that are necessary to become a complete, highly competent physician. The specific educational objectives of the clerkship focus on developing the ability of clinicians to utilize population-level information in the treatment of individuals, incorporating population-based data, as well as an understanding of the community context of health, illness, and health care. These objectives also lead to an appreciation of the public health and resource implications of caring for individual patients. Consistent with the Mission Statement of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, it is hoped that the clerkship will help foster in students an informed sense of social responsibility and help students develop the skills needed to become strong patient advocates and community leaders in areas important to the public's health.

While the emphasis of the clerkship is on the core needs of future clinicians, it is structured to offer even more advanced opportunities for those medical students with special interest in the area of community health.