Projects & Deliverables

Students are required to choose a path of critical community engagement. Students will engage in rigorous and longitudinal community-responsive project with established community-campus partners to assess and reduce health inequities among local underserved communities.

The projects can widely range in nature, but typically involve one of the following: 1) Original research project (Med Scholars), 2) Valley Fellowship project with a designated community partner, and 3) community-engaged project outside of Med Scholars and the Valley Fellowship.

The project deliverables are:

  1. Scholarly Paper (Due end of first Summer Quarter)
  2. Project Presentation (Due prior to SC completion)
  3. Final Project Summary (Due prior to SC completion)

Scholarly Paper

Participation in the Scholarly Concentration in Community Health requires writing a scholarly paper, which brings together elements from the core courses. The paper gives students an opportunity to delve more deeply into an area of personal interest and to learn about the background and current approaches to solving a community health issue.

The topic that you choose can (but does not have to) be related to one of the following: 1) proposed Med Scholars research, 2) Valley Fellowship, or 3) other community-engaged project. It is up to you to decide. Most importantly, your topic should be one that interests you. If you are planning to pursue the Original Research Track (Med Scholars), then this paper can serve as the foundation for a Medical Scholars proposal.

Overview of Paper Sections:

  • Executive summary (1 page)
  • Background
  • Methods (if applicable):
    • Include approach for community engagement
  • Synthesis of major themes (as opposed to a summation of articles)
    • A table of themes may be made for clarification and attached as an appendix
  • Next steps and current gaps
  • Conclusion and recommendations

 

Paper Nuts and Bolts:

  • 15-20 pages in length
  • New Times Roman, 12 point font, 1-inch margins on each side
  • Minimum of 15 peer reviewed article or book citations (may use web-based references in addition as needed)
  • Topics are due at the end of Winter Quarter to Dr. Janine Bruce or Dr. Lisa Chamberlain
  • All papers are due by the end of the first Summer Quarter
  • Faculty members will review and score each submission. Any paper receiving less than 80% will be returned for revision and resubmission
     

Sample Paper 1


Project Presentation (Dissemination)

                    At least one presentation is required. It may be from a national, regional, or local conference/symposium, lab meeting (needs prior approval from SC Director). The presentation can be either an oral presentation or poster presentation. Opportunities for presenting finding:

  1. Summary of scholarly paper findings
  2. Valley Fellowship project findings
  3. Original Research (Med Scholars) findings

Venues for dissemination include:

  1. A national or regional conference (i.e. Pediatric Academic Society in May, American Public Health Association in November, etc.)
  2. Local conference/symposium (i.e. Stanford Medical Student Research Symposium, Stanford Community Health Symposium in January, Stanford Pediatrics Research Retreat in April, etc.)

Following the presentation, the peers and faculty in attendance will be providing you with written anonymous feedback on your presentation topic and style.

Final SC Completion Report

Students are required to submit a final report detailing their results from their community-engaged project. Reports can include the following:

  1. Draft, submitted or published research manuscript (for academic dissemination)
  2. 3-page project summary: The summary should detail the following: 1) SC project concept, 2) project results, 3) lessons learned from community-engagement, 4) Next steps for the project/collaboration (if applicable), and 5) Recommendations (i.e. feedback regarding mentor selection, coursework related to the project, what you would do differently in hindsight). Note: Please be sure to include your name, mentor, and project title at the top of your summary.

Original Research Project

  •                     Not all students are required to complete an original research project. However, if you choose to do so, the required Scholarly Paper (outlined above) can serve as the foundation for a Medical Scholars Proposal.
  • Please consult the SC Director and the Office of Community Health regarding the development of a research project and finding appropriate faculty mentorship. Community Health research projects typically involve longitudinal partnerships with community partners. Faculty often guide student engagement with community partners and they will help make connections and develop partnerships. In some cases, students will identify partners and develop partnerships. In these cases, students will still need a Stanford faculty to oversee the project.
  • Examples of past original research projects

  • Other funding resources can be found on the Office of Community Health web site