Valley Foundation Fellowships
Two Valley Foundation Fellows selected!
Morgan Theis, SMSII and Alex Cardenas, SMSIII have been selected as Valley Foundation Fellows for Summer 2009.
Morgan Theis will be working to assess barriers to exercise among older adults in San Mateo County in collaboration Curtis Chan, MD, Assistant Health Officer at the San Mateo County Health Department. This project is a continuation of the group project she did through the Population Health Curriculum in the first-year Practice of Medicine Course.
Alex Cardenas will be working with East Palo Alto Academy Elementary School to assess staff and parent needs in social and emotional needs of students. He will be developing in-service trainings for teachers on child and adolescent mental health risks, screenings, and community resources.
Background
Thanks to support from the Valley Foundation, the Office of Community Health (OCH) has funding to support medical students interested in working with our Community Partners on projects that meet specific partner-identified needs.
The Valley Fellowships are paid summer fellowships that provide students the opportunity to work on a focused, substantive project with community agencies in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to strategically expand their capacity to meet their mission. Projects address health issues from a population perspective with a particular focus on health disparities and underserved communities.
Who: All Stanford medical students are eligible to apply.
Students who are receiving 100% MedScholars in the summer and fall will not be eligible for a Valley Fellowship.
What: $1,250-$7,500 to support medical student work on 1 of 14 proposed community partner community health projects (grant amount based on total hours of work)
Where: At partner locations, either San Mateo County Health Department or Santa Clara County Public Health
When: Summer, half-time or full-time for 1-3 months (partners and students determine project timeline)
Number of Fellowships: 2-6 fellowships are granted annually
Fellowship Project Guidelines
Projects must meet the following criteria to be eligible for Valley Fellowship funding:
- Proposed by an OCH Community Partner
- Meets a specific need at partner organization
- Supervised by a designated staff member at partner organization
- Focuses on service-learning: clear project and learning objectives with opportunities for reflection
- Can be reasonably completed by a medical student in a negotiated timeframe*
*2-3 months is the typical Valley Fellowship project duration; however, it may be appropriate for a project to continue into the academic year. Funding extensions may be available and will be considered on an individual basis. Only 1 extension will be granted per project.
Project Proposal and Application Process
- OCH solicits project proposals from community partners
- Partners submit completed project proposal form to OCH (Evelyn Ho)
- Fellowship application made available to students
- Students submit completed Fellowship applications to OCH.
Fellowship Award Process and Expectations
- OCH reviews student Fellowship applications and consults with partners to determine appropriate Fellow placements
- OCH notifies students and partners of Fellowship placements
- Fellows and partners submit signed Fellowship Contract to OCH
- OCH distributes Fellowship funds directly to Fellows upon receipt of signed contract and at completion of project
- Fellows submit 2 progress reports and a final report.
- Fellows attend 3 Fellowship meetings with OCH staff and other fellows.
- Structured abstract due in September
- All Fellows present their project at the Annual Fall Forum on Community Health and Public Service in a poster or oral format (held at Stanford in October; open to the public)
Sample of past projects
Assessment of patient’s attitudes and perceptions about mobile mammography services among medically underserved women in Santa Clara County – Community Health Partnership
Compile and summarize data on pertussis cases reported in Santa Clara County between 1998 and 2005. – Santa Clara County Health Department
Evaluation of pre-HIV test counseling at the San Mateo Medical Center Edison Clinic – San Mateo County Health Department
Questions?
Contact Evelyn Ho with any questions.
