Building a workforce of physicians to care for underserved patients.

There is a shortage of physicians to care for underserved populations. Medical educators at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University have used five years of Health Resources and Services Administration funding to train medical students to provide outstanding primary care for underserved populations. The grant has two major goals: 1) to increase the number of graduating medical students who practice primary care in underserved communities ("Professional Development"); and 2) to prepare all medical school graduates to care for underserved patients, regardless of specialty choice ("Curriculum Development"). Professional Development, including a new scholarly concentration and an eight-year primary care pipeline, has been achieved in partnership with the Program in Liberal Medical Education, the medical school's Admissions Committee, and an Area Health Education Center. Curriculum Development has involved systematic recruitment of clinical training sites and disease-specific curricula including tools for providing care to vulnerable populations. A comprehensive, longitudinal evaluation is ongoing.