FIU Medical Students to Tour North Dade Neighborhoods Where They Will Work With Families


 Students to meet community leaders at reception 

MEDIA ADVISORY

WHAT:  The inaugural class of Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine will tour the North Miami-Dade neighborhoods where the students will eventually work with medically-underserved families as part of the Green Family Medicine & Society Program. Following the tour, which is part of the medical school’s Medicine & Society Ethics Course, the students will meet with the Medicine & Society Community Advisory Team and other community leaders at a reception held at the Mahogany Grille in Miami Gardens. 

Through its outreach arm, known as NeighborhoodHELPTM, the Green Family Medicine & Society Program will place each medical student in a team that will include students from nursing, social work, public health, and other disciplines. Each medical student will spend three years working with a household in North Miami-Dade. The interdisciplinary cooperation is similar to the model that is taking shape in modern medicine, as doctors collaborate with counterparts, such as social workers, to address a patient’s needs. Earlier this year, the Green Family Foundation (GFF), a private, non-profit organization that supports social programs dedicated to improving community health and elevating universal socio-economic conditions, announced a $5 million gift – $10 million with state match – to fund the Medicine & Society program.

WHO:  The tour will take place after a one-hour lecture by Dr. Pedro José “Joe” Greer, chair of the Wertheim College of Medicine’s Department of Humanities, Health & Society. Dr. Greer is known for his pioneering work in medical delivery and education in areas of homelessness, poverty and its relationship to policy and ethics in medicine. This month, President Obama named him as one of the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest recognition given to civilians by the United States.

WHEN AND WHERE: The post-tour reception will be held Thursday, Aug. 13, from 4:30-6 p.m. at the Mahogany Grille, 2190 N.W. 183rd St., Miami Gardens

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  For more information on the Green Family Medicine & Society program, please visit the NeighborhoodHELP website. Media seeking interviews with representatives of the Green Family Foundation should call Stefanie Avery at 201-231-6038.

Media contact: Madeline Baró, 305-348-2234

-FIU-

About the Green Family Foundation

The Green Family Foundation’s (www.greenff.org) mission is to make a positive and meaningful impact in communities both at home and abroad. We provide funding and resources to organizations that support education, global health and community development. GFF empowers underserved communities to fight the cycle of extreme poverty, leading to sustainable programs that improve lives.

About the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine:
The College of Medicine was approved in 2006 by the Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Legislature.  In 2008, it received preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education of the AAMC and admitted its first class in August 2009. Among the innovative elements of the FIU College of Medicine is a program called NeighborhoodHELP™, which will send medical students along with their counterparts in social work, nursing and public health, into the community. The FIU College of Medicine is expected to have a multi-billion-dollar economic impact on Miami-Dade County, bringing thousands of jobs to the area and eventually contributing millions to the state coffers every year. For more information visit http://medicine.fiu.edu/

About FIU:

Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University”. In August 2009, FIU welcomed the inaugural class of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu.

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