Amy Cantor, M.P.H., third-year medical student, recently earned the prestigious American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Student Community Outreach Award for the remarkable efforts she put forth to establish the Alpha Home Student-Run Clinic. She was one of only two individuals chosen to receive the national award that includes a scholarship and allows her to present her project at the academy’s 2005 national conference.
“Medical school was a new and fascinating experience when I first began,” Cantor said. “But I wanted to find a way to also be involved in my community.”
She discussed the idea of a student-run free clinic located at Alpha Home with Richard Usatine, M.D., professor of family and community medicine, after hearing him describe a similar clinic he helped establish in Los Angeles. Alpha Home is a non-profit, long-term substance abuse recovery center. Many of the Alpha Home clients have not had adequate healthcare in years, resulting in a variety of medical issues.
“The clinic was created in order to meet the health needs of these individuals, while serving as a volunteer clinical training environment for pre-clinical medical students,” Cantor said.
Dr. Usatine serves as the faculty adviser to the clinic that opened in January of this year. It is staffed by volunteer medical students and residents under the supervision of Health Science Center faculty. Each Saturday, the clinic offers Alpha Home women free well-woman exams and treatments for a variety of physical and mental health conditions.
“Amy showed great enthusiasm and motivation to move the idea of this clinic forward,” Dr. Usatine said. “The AAFP award is a very deserving honor for her.”
The AAFP Student Community Outreach Award honors medical students who are involved in a community service project that is not part of an offered or required rotation in their schools’ curricula.
Cantor presented her project last weekend at the 2005 National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students in Kansas City, Mo.
