Community Engagement at UMass Chan Medical School:
Strengthening Communities Through Education, Research, and Service
A commitment to collaborative work with many partners was one of the founding principles of the UMass Chan Medical School. UMass Chan seeks opportunities to develop and nurture community programs and initiatives that will benefit both the community and the medical school. Our approach to community engagement is based on respectful two-way communication, and we are deeply committed to enriching our surrounding communities.
Community engagement is the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people. It is a powerful vehicle for bringing about environmental and behavioral changes that will improve the health of the community and its members. It often involves partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners, and serve as catalysts for changing policies, programs, and practices (CDC, 1997, p. 9). Community engagement can take many forms, and partners can include organized groups, agencies, institutions, or individuals. Collaborators may be engaged in health promotion, research, or policy making.”
The Community Engagement Committee
Our mission is to promote community engagement focused on service, teaching and research in the Greater Worcester community and Central Massachusetts region and beyond. In teaching, we advance learning that also provides service. We advance research and service that respond to needs identified by the community.
We provide guidance and support to the medical school and communities to foster, advance, and strengthen community-engaged service, learning and research. We promote participation in the Greater Worcester Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) and respond to community requests for health promotion activities such as providing flu shots for seniors and school children.
The committee has a diverse membership of faculty, staff and students from across the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. That diversity brings wide and deep expertise to support students, faculty and staff seeking new opportunities and support for ongoing and newly developing initiatives.
Connect, join in, engage!
UMass Chan community members: If you want to engage with the community and aren’t certain how to begin, or if you are interested in joining the committee, please email the Office of Community and Government Relations. We’d like to hear from you!
Community groups, organizations and individuals: Share your initiatives and needs with us. We want to explore collaboration and partnership opportunities with you. Contact the Office of Community and Government Relations to get started.
CHIP in to the Worcester Community Health Improvement Plan with UMass Chan Medical School community partner Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester.