Article: Union To Host Youth Medical Mentorship Activity Friday At UMAC
Union To Host Youth Medical Mentorship Activity Friday At UMAC
Posted Date: 03/22/2023
Union Public Schools will host a Youth Medical Mentorship summit from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday, March 24, at the UMAC, 6638 S. Mingo Road, in the Redzone Room.
Representatives from more than 30 colleges, medical students, residents and medical providers will provide mentoring experiences to some 90 Union students, including High School and seventh grade students during the event hosted by Youth Medical Mentorship, Tulsa Technology Center, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, and Union Public Schools.
“The volunteers will be coming from several medical centers, colleges, medical schools across Tulsa, and ground-breaking organizations such as Juno Medical led by Dr. Jabraan Pasha,” said Dr. Chris McNeil, who is organizing the event. He is also a member of the Union Schools Board of Education.
The event will serve as part one of a program, which will continue with another event on July 28 at the OSU Center for Health Sciences, he said.
“These events will lead up into our Black Men In White Coats summit in November in conjunction with Hillcrest, engineered by Carolina Morris,” McNeil said.
“Friday is unique because, apart from previous summits, many of the students coming have been tracked and mentored over a weekly basis with our new after school program called Youth Medical Mentorship at the Union 7th Grade Center,” McNeil said.
He said 30 seventh graders have been selected by their science teachers to fill their roster and receive weekly programming and exposure.
“One of their science teachers, Fahad Mohammad, has been a key player in connecting students to health professionals, and he will be in attendance,” McNeil said. “The other 60 high school students were recruited by another Union science teacher and professor at Tulsa Technology Center, Stacia Bowden. She and her students have orchestrated this event from start to finish! This summit is where they get to meet the older versions of themselves following a pathway into medical professions.”
McNeil said the program, which is funded thanks to Ascension St John’s $150,000 Community Health Equity Catalyst Grant, will be expanding.
“Youth Medical Mentorship afterschool programming will be growing to Monroe Middle School in the fall of 2023, once again giving students across the city exposure to the medical field and the pathways and role models to make medicine accessible,” McNeil said. “We are working with universities and the medical schools to keep top talent coming out of Oklahoma schools and into the Oklahoma workforce.”
McNeil provided snapshots of the some of the work seventh graders have provided. See adjoining graphics and a video here: https://youtu.be/xi6WNbxnxIc.
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