Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) at LSUHSC – New Orleans

The Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) is part of an effort by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that works to build a Culture of Health. The mission of the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) is a free summer enrichment program focused on improving access to information and resources for college students interested in the health professions. SHPEP’s goal is to strengthen the academic proficiency and career development of students underrepresented in the health professions and prepare them for a successful application and matriculation to health professions schools. These students include, but are not limited to, individuals who identify as African American/Black, American Indian and Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino, and who are from communities of socioeconomic and educational disadvantage. SHPEP, formerly known as the Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP), expanded in 2016 to include a broader array of health professions.

The Summer Health Professions Education Program at LSUHSC-New Orleans is strongly committed to increasing the number of students from underrepresented/underserved, rural, and/or disadvantaged backgrounds who are skilled, confident, and motivated to remain and succeed in challenging academic programs/majors that are designed to support health sciences careers. Therefore, our program will incorporate our Health Sciences Center’s Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, and Public Health, with support from our Center for Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice (CIPECP) and our HBCU partner Xavier University at Louisiana, College of Pharmacy. The skills that will be addressed support the development of inter/intrapersonal, critical thinking, and reasoning competencies, as well as science competencies as defined by the Association of American Medical Colleges, but are also relevant to all health professions disciplines. Our program content is crafted around academic enrichment in selected gateway undergraduate basic science and quantitative courses, such as Organic Chemistry, Physics, Anatomy & Physiology, Microbiology, and the Introduction to Biostatistics & Epidemiology, as well as topics such as the Introduction to Public Health and Health Policy. Additionally, our program provides professionalism skills and knowledge development in areas of cultural competency, health equity, and National Program Office (NPO)-direct professional careers’ financial planning, as well as social determinants of health, medical ethics, and patient quality initiatives.

Click here to learn more about the program at LSUHSC – New Orleans.

Program Contact:
Contact: Allison Augustus-Wallace, PhD, MS, MNS
Phone Number: (504) 568-3044/(504) 568-8501
Email: awall1@lsuhsc.edu

Program Information:
Location: Louisiana State University, New Orleans, LA
Website: https://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/cmhe/shpep.aspx
Start/End Dates: May 21-June 29, 2018

(Pictured representatives from LSUHSC: (top, left to right) Ms. Emma Kostur, Analyst, School of Medicine: Dr. Dean Smith, Dean of School of Public Health;  Dr. Tina Gunaldo, Director, Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice; Ms. Isha Matta, Recruitment Officer, School of Public Health; Dr. Stephen Brisco, Assoc. Professor, School of Dentistry; Dr. Allison Augustus-Wallace, Director and Assistant Professor-Research, Office of Diversity and Community Engagement, School of Medicine)