UQOCS is a Recipient of the American Medical Association Student, Resident, and Fellow Impact Challenge

RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 3, 2020

A team of medical students of the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School was recently named a winner in the 2020 American Medical Association’s (AMA) Health Systems Science Student and Resident Impact Challenge.

COVID-19 outreach work for the Ochsner MedVantage Network Innovation (OMNI) program by UQOCS medical students Monica Gillie, Kierha Baker, and Diab Ali along with visiting student Oluwabukola “Bukky” Akingbola, all under the guidance of Dr. Kathy Jo Carstarphen, will be acknowledged in a feature article published by the AMA. They are also invited to present at the AMA’s next ChangeMedEd conference and each student is eligible for a $500 award.

This year’s AMA Challenge was focused on how medical students, residents and fellows across the country have applied health systems science to impact patients, physicians and health systems during the pandemic.

“It is extremely gratifying to know that the training our students receive at Ochsner contributed to a pressing global crisis in our response to COVID-19,” said Dr. Kathy Jo Carstarphen, Senior Lecturer Faculty with UQ-Ochsner Clinical School and internal medicine physician with Ochsner Health.

Ochsner MedVantage Clinic assists disadvantaged patient populations who have multiple barriers to accessible medical care. Students and faculty connected with this established network of vulnerable patients during the pandemic to help alleviate a predictable stress on the medical system. The medical students assessed and screened patients for signs and symptoms of deteriorating health, as well as facilitate the acquisition of basic needs such as food and safe housing.