Monica Yepes-Rios, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Diversity Equity and Inclusion for Students, and her team recently received a Building Trust through Diversity 2022 Grant from the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), ABIM Foundation, American College of Physicians (ACP) and Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation to support a program that incorporates diversity, equity and inclusion to improve the quality of education and training in healthcare.
The $20,000 grant will fund a Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University (CCLCM) mentorship program. The program, called Building Trust through “Mentor Families,” will help Northeast Ohio high school students, hailing from communities that have been historically marginalized, who are thinking about a healthcare career. These mentored students will have opportunities to explore various career options and plan their undergraduate education accordingly. They will also learn skills around resiliency and overcoming barriers.
CCLCM students Abigail Snyder (’25) and Marina Hale (’26), and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine University Program students Zain Khawaja (’25) and Orlando Martinez (’25) helped write the grant and designed the educational sessions for the high school students.
Colleagues within the Cleveland Clinic Internal Medicine Residency Program and Center for Health Professions Education will help with this important initiative.
The Building Trust through “Mentor Families” program builds on the Horizons at CWRU program, where CWRU School of Medicine and undergraduate students mentor neighboring high school students with the goal of encouraging them to pursue a career in medicine.
CCLCM is among 24 leading medical schools and internal medicine training programs across the country to receive a grant. Learn more about the grants and the 2022 grantees.
