June Student Feature 2014

 

Adrian Diaz and Margarita Corredor, School of Medicine

Adrian Diaz, who is in the School of Medicine’s class of 2016, will begin a one-year term as president of the Southeast region of the Latino Medical Student Association in June.

VCU’s LMSA chapter was established this past year through the efforts of Diaz and his classmate Margarita Corredor. Earlier this year, they attended the LMSA Southeast Regional Conference hosted by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“For the first time in my life I stood in a room surrounded by physicians whose childhoods, backgrounds and motivations resembled my own,” Corredor said. “I met women like me who have accomplished the goals I have set for myself, and that tangible inspiration was indescribably powerful.” She was so impressed with the conference that she successfully advocated for VCU’s LMSA chapter to host the regional conference in 2016.

The VCU chapter aims to foster relationships between Latino medical students and physician mentors and to advocate for a higher quality of care for Hispanic patients. During the spring semester, LMSA students taught a six-week medical Spanish elective course that enrolled more than 120 students, including all those planning to travel on HOMBRE service trips this summer. After completing the course, most students reported they felt comfortable taking a history and performing a full physical exam in Spanish.

As the incoming president, Adrian was invited by the National Hispanic Medical Association to participate in their 18th annual Conference, “Affordable Care Act & Best Practices for Hispanics,” this past March. The conference drew Hispanic physician leaders from around the nation who collaborated on identifying cultural competence, literacy and language service programs for medical education and health care delivery.

 

 

Elise Glaum, Master of Public Health program, School of Medicine 

This spring, Glaum conducted a webinar in conjunction with the American Public Health Association’s Health Communication Working Group.

Glaum’s webinar, “Incorporating Social Media into Your Professional Life,” highlighted tips for health care professionals interested in using social media to connect to a community and to promote business goals to an online audience. She also discussed how to navigate the institutional barriers and challenges health practitioners sometimes face when using social media.

Glaum’s advice and tips stem from her experience working at the United Nations Foundation. She served as the online communications associate dedicated to overseeing the social media strategy for the Shot@Life campaign that promotes child vaccinations worldwide. Her work with Shot@Life connected her to more than 150,000 online campaign supporters and contributes to her breadth of knowledge.

One of Glaum’s webinar tips to health care professionals was to establish a voice and to remain relevant and interesting on social media. She described how she posted photos and updated stories of campaign volunteers abroad to promote the Shot@Life campaign. By sharing unique stories, Glaum was able to garner greater support and attention for the campaign and to connect in an interesting and unique way with her online community.

Glaum’s webinar “Incorporating Social Media into Your Professional Life,” is available online.

To learn more about the Shot@Life campaign and how you can volunteer or contribute to the cause, visit www.shotatlife.org.

Glaum, who will graduate from the MPH program in the spring of 2015, will intern this summer with the Richmond City Health District.