Medical interpreters are crucial to ensure fair and high-quality healthcare for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). Despite the need to use high-quality medical interpreters to communicate with LEP patients, medical schools often do not adequately educate their students on how to work with interpreters. This study seeks to investigate…

Medical schools were incorporating active learning strategies in anatomy teaching to accommodate diverse student bodies. Formative assessment and art as a hands-on learning method had been explored as alternatives to traditional teaching methods. Those methods allowed students to practice and assess their understanding of anatomy as they progress.…

Pláticas methodology is introduced in this article to advance the centering of Latinx researchers and Latinx students in STEM research. As an increase in Latinx educational researchers enter academia, engaging an appropriate epistemology and methodology that is culturally relevant and race-centered is key in the ongoing STEM education research…

Community engagement concepts incorporated into service-learning experiences help students in the health professions to connect classroom work with clinical practice and learn strategies and skills to improve community health. Service learning improves team skills, allows students to gain knowledge about communities where they train, and connects…

Primary care providers (PCPs) are increasingly called upon to screen for and treat depression. However, PCPs often lack the training to diagnose and treat depression. We designed an innovative 12-month evidence and mentorship-based primary care psychiatric training program entitled the University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine…

In the United States, there is a disproportionately low number of Black physicians in comparison to the demographic composition of Black people in the nation. This underrepresentation gap is result of historic systemic racism that led to Black people being abused and left out of healthcare and medical education. Despite improvement in healthcare…

Interprofessional education (IPE) for health care students may be one approach to improving health care outcomes by increasing collaboration among health professionals. However, the influence that IPE experiences are having on collaborative competency is unknown. Collaboration competency is crucial for physician trainees because they will practice…

How can institutions and communities accelerate Latino student success? Examples of "Excelencia" is the only national effort to identify and promote evidence-based programs accelerating Latino student success in higher education. Since 2005, "Excelencia" in Education has recognized over 300 programs making a positive difference…

This study examines the impact of affirmative action bans in six states (California, Washington, Florida, Texas, Michigan, and Nebraska) on the matriculation rates of historically underrepresented students of color in public medical schools in these states. Findings show that affirmative action bans have led to about a 17% decline (from 18.5% to…

This article describes the use of a brief needs assessment survey in the development of alcohol and drug screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) curricula in 2 health care settings in the San Francisco Bay Area. The samples included university medical center faculty (n = 27) and nonphysician community health and social…

In this project, the traditional lecture hall presentation of acid-base physiology in the first-year medical school curriculum was replaced by interactive, computer-assisted instruction designed primarily for the iPad and other mobile computer platforms. Three learning modules were developed, each with ~20 screens of information, on the subjects…

Physician workforce shortages in California are projected to grow rapidly in the next ten years, particularly in inner-city and rural regions. In response to this anticipated need, the University of California's medical schools are increasing enrollment and working to implement and evaluate new programs and curricula to prepare graduates to work…

Since the mid-20th century, the standard U.S. high school and college math curriculum has been based on two years of algebra and a year of geometry, preparing students to take classes in pre-calculus followed by calculus. Students' math pursuits have been differentiated primarily by how far or how rapidly they proceed along a clearly defined…

California's lieutenant governor has proposed a fast-track medical school that would shave three years off the training needed to become a physician. It is not the first time such an idea has been offered. The proposal, for a hoped-for medical school at the University of California at Merced, struck some medical educators as both unrealistic and…

The primary goal of this study was to test an innovative way of assessing students' teamwork skills in a controlled environment. Twenty-four second year students from Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) participated in the experimental group and 22 third year students from WesternU participated in the control group. Students in the…