For Immediate Release

Washington, D.C., September 20, 2001 - The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), in collaboration with Pfizer, Inc. and the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative, is awarding grants to six U.S. medical schools for the development of student-initiated programs and services in their local communities.

The "Caring for Community" grant program provides funding for community health projects initiated, developed and run by medical students. The goal of the program is to encourage medical school students to identify unique or unexplored avenues of community service. Six other institutions received grants earlier this year.

The September 2001 grantees are: Medical College of Georgia, Howard University College of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Harvard Medical School, University of Texas-Medical Branch at Galveston, and University of Louisville School of Medicine.

"Caring for Community" provides three types of grants - new, supplemental and non-continuous. New projects receive $12,000 during the first year, an amount that will decrease by 25% annually until the fourth and final year of the grant. Four-year supplemental grants, awarded to new projects within existing programs, provide $8,000 during the first year and also decrease 25% annually. Non-continuous grants are awarded to short-term projects and may receive up to $15,000 in funding.

"Medical students who seize the opportunity to assist in providing health care to our nation's medically underserved population are also learning an important lesson about professional responsibility," said AAMC president Jordan J. Cohen, MD. "These students, and a growing number of their colleagues who have been awarded these grants, take understandable pride in developing and managing the programs themselves."

"The patient physician relationship is, has always been, and must always remain at the heart of the American health care system," said Mike Magee, MD, director, Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative.

Grantees and Program Descriptions

Medical College of Georgia - Health Care for Migrant Workers
Medical students provide health care to migrant workers during the height of the Vidalia onion harvest in Toombs County, Georgia.

Howard University College of Medicine - "AIDS Education Video Project" (AVE)
The AVE Project is designed to facilitate HIV/AIDS education for minority adolescents. Howard students will use this video to encourage adolescents to have open and honest conversations about HIV/AIDS with their peers, family, and medical professionals.

University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry - "Saturday School"
Medical students tutor and mentor K-6 students who are at high-risk of failing core subjects. This program also provides monthly health screening, prevention/education workshops and parenting seminars.

Harvard Medical School - ABC/BABIES Clinic
Medical students provide education and clinical services to teenage mothers and their children through the combined forces of the Whittier Street Health Center's Adolescent and Baby Clinic (ABC) and the Harvard Medical School's BABIES (Boston Adolescent and Baby Initiatives to Ensure Success).

University of Texas, Medical Branch Galveston - "Frontera de Salud"
Founded by UTMB students, Frontera provides primary care services (particularly diabetes and women's health services) to the working poor in the Rio Grande Valley.

University of Louisville School of Medicine - "H.O.P.E. and L.I.F.E. Clinics"
Through two student-directed clinics, the Health Outreach and Pediatric Education Clinic (H.O.P.E.) and the Louisville Inner-City Family Care Experience Clinic (L.I.F.E.), medical students administer influenza vaccines to residents of shelter facilities.

Grants to next year's recipients will be announced in May. For more information visit "Caring for Community".

The Association of American Medical Colleges represents the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; some 400 major teaching hospitals, including 74 Veterans Administration medical centers; 91 academic and professional societies representing nearly 88,000 faculty members; and the nation's 67,000 medical students and 102,000 residents.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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