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Indiana University School of Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
MD Education Program

Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration

This concentration provides students with an understanding of the historical and contemporary barriers that exist for the nation’s medically underserved populations in urban areas. Through coursework, students will investigate authentic cross-cultural and socio-structural determinants underlying health care disparities and demonstrate how sensitivity to such issues improves health care for all. Through scholarly project work, students will act as advocates by developing interventions to address or reduce health disparities.

Locations

Some concentration coursework can be completed online; some coursework takes place on the Northwest-Gary campus. The scholarly project work occurs on the Northwest-Gary campus.

Curriculum and Timeline

Students completing the Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities concentration fulfill the same core curriculum as students in other concentrations. The didactic components provide a strong academic and experiential foundation in urban medicine and health care disparities that is vital for completion of the core curriculum project and product.

Topic-Specific Courses

Healthcare Disparities in an Urban Setting 1

Healthcare Disparities in an Urban Setting 2

Core Curriculum

Fundamentals of Research and Scholarship

Scholarly Concentration Project

Scholarly Concentration Product

Recommended Pathway

 This table shows that the first and second topic specific courses should be completed during phase one in year one. The third topic specific course should be taken during phase one year two. The two remaining courses, project and product, are longitudinal. The project should begin during phase one in year one, while the product should begin during the summer between first and second year of med school. Both the project and product should conclude on or before the end of fourth year.

*Mid December to mid February

Students determine if a concentration pathway will fit in their schedule by contacting concentration co-directors. 

Scholarly Project Topic Examples

Students work with faculty to complete a project in a relevant topic based on student interests. Students are welcome to come up with their own project idea. Previous project topics include but are not limited to:
  • Food Insecurity: An Upstream Social Determinant of 30-day Congestive Heart Failure Readmissions
  • Unequal Burden of Melanoma: How Socioeconomic Status is Associated with Secondary Primary Malignancy Risk and Mortality
  • Association of Socio-Demographic Factors and Social Determinants of Health with Physical Activity Level in Patients with Disabilities
  • Socio-Demographic and Behavioral Predictors of Admission for Kidney Disease in an Urban Hospital in Northwest Indiana
  • Group Prenatal Care Models, Implementation, and Perinatal Outcomes
  • Impact of Race and Industry on Stroke Incidence in Northwest Indiana - A Report to Advocate for Targeted Community-Based Interventions
  • Breast Cancer Disparities Among Women in Underserved Communities in Northwest Indiana
  • Retrospective Cohort Analysis of Colorectal Cancer Staging in Northwest Indiana
  • Sociodemographic Disadvantaged Adolescent Attitudes on Healthy Lifestyle Education: Variances with Career Choice
  • Coil-Assisted Retrograde Transvenous Obliteration (CARTO) for the Treatment of Gastric Variceal Bleeding in a Patient with a Gastrorenal Shunt: A Case Report

Student Testimonials

Daniel Luke GreenWhy did you choose to participate in the Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration, and how do you expect your participation to help guide your career in medicine?

Studying medicine at the Gary campus comes with a unique opportunity to integrate economics, sociology, politics, health care, science and a variety of other disciplines into medical education. The Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration program helped me consider how a patient's environment and circumstances affect their health and why they may develop a given condition before presenting to the doctor. My participation in this scholarly concentration has given me a deeper appreciation for public health and the value of preventing illness before needing to treat it.

What scholarly project have you chosen to undertake and why?

We did a project with a local organization that's called Operation Combat Bikesaver – a nonprofit organization that tries to do what they call “Hot Rod therapy.” They work with veterans, and they basically offer this healthy outlet for them to come and build motorcycles. And then through that, they also offer more formal connections to healthcare and psychiatric care as well as peer support groups.

So we did a research study with them sort of as a community-based participatory research study to analyze and review the effects that this program has had on veterans in the Northwest–Gary area. That project was important to me because I'm in the Air Force, so I'm doing the Health Professions Scholarship Program. What I wanted to do, since I'm sort of removed from that patient population right now, was get exposure to and learn better ways to help that population while I'm in medical school and still learning.

How has participating in the Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration shaped your medical school journey?

It's definitely given me a broader understanding of all the other things patients face before they can actually address just really baseline medical needs. A lot of the Scholarly Concentration focuses on psychiatric care and barriers to care, so it’s shaped the way I think about the patient experience between the patient being in the office or in the hospital and at home. What it takes for them to go from at home to in the hospital or in the office were things I just really hadn't considered as much, so the Concentration helped my understanding of what are the barriers to care for various patients. 

Maryam SabirWhy did you choose to participate in the Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration program?

As a Muslim woman of color born to refugee and immigrant parents, serving minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by health inequity has always been a priority of mine. The Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration at IU School of Medicine-Northwest-Gary offered an unparalleled pathway to gain greater understanding of health disparities in an urban setting through research and clinical experiences with the diverse patient population I hope to serve in the future.

How will your participation in this scholarly concentration contribute to your overall career aspirations in medicine?

Participating in the Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration has helped develop my independent research skills and has vastly expanded my knowledge of public health and patient-centered, community-based health initiatives. As an aspiring emergency medicine physician, these areas of knowledge are critical as emergency departments often serve the primary care needs of underserved communities.

Co-Directors

16590-Han, Amy

Amy W. Han, PhD

Director of Clinical Education at IUSM-Northwest-Gary

Bio and Contact Information

60476-Muvuka, Baraka

Baraka Muvuka, PhD, MPH, MCHES

Assistant Professor of Clinical Family Medicine

Bio and Contact Information

map shows the urban medicine and health care disparities concentration location in gary
MD Student News

In their words: Scholarly Concentration Q&A with Urban Medicine and Health Disparities co-director

Amy Han, PhD, and Elizabeth Ryan, EdD, share details on the Urban Medicine and Health Care Disparities Scholarly Concentration, which provides students with an understanding of the historical and contemporary barriers that exist for the nation’s medically underserved in urban areas.