Baylor’s School of Health Professions launches Pathway in Health Equity

Baylor College of Medicine’s School of Health Professions is launching the Pathway in Health Equity focused on promoting equity in healthcare through education, community engagement and research. The first cohort of 11 students begins this month.

The new pathway is part of Project REACH (Racial Equity Alliance for Community Health), a Baylor initiative funded by a grant from Genentech’s Health Equity and Diversity in STEM Innovation Fund. Project REACH seeks to improve disparities in health outcomes through education, mentorship, scholarship and research conducted during health professions education programs.

“The Pathway in Health Equity will prepare School of Health Professions students to tackle equity-focused healthcare needs in their clinical practice and to engage with their community to improve the outcomes of the patients they treat,” said Project REACH principal investigator Dr. Ashley Mullen, associate professor and program director of the Orthotics and Prosthetics Program in the School of Health Professions.

This is the first School of Health Professions pathway open to students from across the school’s four programs – Genetic Counseling, Orthotics and Prosthetics, Physician Assistant and Doctor of Nursing Practice – Nurse Anesthesia. It will give students, faculty and staff across healthcare disciplines the opportunity to collaborate on efforts to improve patient outcomes.

“Project REACH, under Dr. Mullen's leadership, is a wonderful new opportunity for the School of Health Professions to build community across our multiple graduate programs and more broadly with Houston and Harris County,” said Dr. Todd Reinhart, dean of the School of Health Professions. “Increasing awareness of health disparities, digging into the literature and data associated with these challenges, and engaging in actions to promote health equity will enhance our already exceptional curricula while also supporting our local communities.”

Students will complete the pathway as part of their second year of training at Baylor. They will take a Health Equity for Health Professions course made up of four modules focused on social determinants of health, community engagement and outreach, research scholarship and mentorship, and health equity and outcomes. As part of the community engagement and outreach module, students will participate in a service-learning activity.

Pathway participants also will complete a master’s thesis research project focused on health equity, which will be presented at a research symposium. Research interests in the first cohort of students include topics like diabetic shoes and inserts for uninsured and underinsured populations, a survey of genetic services available to Spanish-speaking populations in Latin America, and addressing barriers to healthcare access for immigrant and non-English speaking populations. Students and faculty mentors will receive support for research from the Genentech grant.

“Health equity encompasses a large umbrella of societal issues that serve as barriers to healthcare,” said Amandi Rhett, assistant professor in the School of Health Professions – Orthotics and Prosthetics Program. “I am excited that students will be able to focus their interests surrounding these topics in research and community service. The pathway will enhance their education, ultimately impacting their future practice.”

“Health inequities are hiding in plain sight, and this pathway will empower our students to light the way to solutions that will provide the best outcomes for our patients,” said Isabel Valdez, physician assistant and assistant professor of medicine at Baylor.