Volunteer Opportunities
When students graduate from Tufts University School of Medicine with a medical degree, they leave with a first-rate education and the tools for becoming physicians who are skilled and caring. The instructors who prepare our students for the rigors of practicing medicine are tops in their fields, and many of them are alumni. Most will agree they are driven by the time-honored tradition that physicians train the next generation.
Maybe you are at a point in your career that allows freedom to explore volunteer opportunities, or maybe you are looking to share your knowledge and experience. Whatever your reasons, we have a variety of options that we hope will match your interests and fit your schedule.
HOST Program
HOST programs are designed to match alumni with fourth year medical students seeking a place to stay or some local knowledge during their residency interviews. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic most interviews will take place online this year. Our M22 students need your support and guidance now more than ever. This year we are asking for alumni to provide local knowledge of their city and hospital via Zoom and Facetime calls, phone calls, or texting. Please help make the students’ interviews less stressful -with just a small amount of your time. Your support through this extraordinary year would be invaluable. Sign up to participate in the HOST program today!
The following cities and areas are currently in need of volunteers and traditionally have a high number of students interviewing in them: Atlanta, Baltimore, Burlington, VT, Charlottesville, VA, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas and Austin, TX, Denver, Hanover, NH, Hartford, New Haven, and Western CT, Madison, WI, Newark and Morristown, NJ, northern and southern CA, NYC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, RI, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Washington, DC, Westchester County and Upstate NY, Worcester and Springfield, MA.
For more specific information please contact Kara Ray.
Mock Interviews
The Office of Student Affairs (OSA) is currently looking for alumni volunteers from all specialties to run virtual mock residency interviews for the 4th year students. The time commitment is about 45 minutes and the interviews will be mutually convenient for the alumnus/a and student. OSA will provide some resources about Zoom interviews, including sample questions. Sign up today
Medical Education in the Classroom
Medical Alumni Volunteer Expert Network (The MAVEN Project) — The MAVEN Project is a national corps of volunteer physicians who are committed to the healthcare needs of underserved populations while utilizing telemedicine technology. This opportunity is suited for specialists and primary care physicians who are newly retired or semi-retired, or who work part time and are willing to contribute their expertise to providers and patients in safety-net clinics.
SAGE — The TMAA Young Alumni Committee partnered with the School of Medicine's Office of Student Affairs to create a volunteer opportunity for young alumni—SAGE Young Allies.
This program offers young alumni the chance to participate in more of an informal mentoring program, which is more conducive to the craze of residency and intern years. Participating young alumni will be matched with several medical students each year as part of the Office of Student Affairs' Specialty Advising, Guidance and Exploration (SAGE) Program. This group would offer guidance about their career decisions including how they chose their specialty or alternative career path, hospital/company, and/or geographic location.
Ways of contact: text, emails, calls, coffee meet ups, other meet ups and greets. Sign up today!
Problem-Based Learning (PBL) — PBL provides the tools for medical students to experience their first encounter with virtual patient clinical cases. Students work in groups to develop learning and communication skills, including problem-based and self-directed learning, critical reasoning, teaching, and teamwork. Facilitators are needed to guide these small groups during two-hour sessions each week.
Ethics and Professionalism — We have a responsibility to graduate morally discerning physicians whose interactions with patients, colleagues, and the public are guided by the highest standards of professional conduct. Physicians need to have the capacity to recognize ethical conflicts when they arise and the skills to make decisions to resolve them. We seek facilitators who do not necessarily have expertise in ethics but who can engage small groups of students in discussions on topics such as death and dying, conception and birth, patient rights, and human research.
Global Health Teaching, Advising, and Mentoring — We have programs at several global health sites, including India, Panama, Ghana, and Haiti, and we invite volunteers who are interested in serving as advisors and mentors for students planning an experience in global health, or volunteers who have projects (either domestic or international) where students can participate.
Teachers and High School Students Program (TAHSS) — The TAHSS program provides high school students with mentorship, access to laboratory experiments, seminars, and classes in gross anatomy. Mentors fill an important role by offering a hands-on experience in their research labs and hospital sites. We seek volunteers who have a passion for increasing awareness about careers in medicine and research and for motivating students to meet their education and career goals.
Clinical Skills
Competency-Based Apprenticeship in Primary Care (CAP) — How to room patients, take vitals, medication reconciliation, nutrition/exercise counseling, the neurological exam—these are all tangible skills that will help future physicians integrate more effectively into the clinical setting and care for patients on a team. We are looking for primary care practices in the Greater Boston area that are willing to have a student shadow a physician one day a week.
Gross Anatomy — Career interests can be diverse, but anatomy is a core course for all first-year students. We invite clinical volunteers to assist in lab dissections involving the extremities, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and head and neck regions while relating the basic anatomy to practical situations.
Medical Interviewing and the Doctor-Patient Relationship (MIDPR) — The medical interview is considered an art form, and volunteers are needed to lead small groups on topics such as interviewing and history taking techniques; increasing awareness about difficult topics (e.g., nutrition, sex, drugs, spirituality, death); how to talk with children, the elderly, and the dying; and how to write up and present the clinical experience.
Selectives Program — The Selectives Program allows students to sample a wide range of experiences starting in their first semester of medical school. We are looking for preceptors to offer clinical, laboratory, or community health opportunities while overseeing learning objectives and goals.
Sharewood Project — Tufts School of Medicine's proud tradition, and one popular with both students and alumni, continues on Tuesdays in Malden with the Sharewood Project. We need alumni to return as mentors and to step into the free student-run health-care program. Students gain invaluable knowledge about the challenges that face the medically underserved, and volunteers provide guidance while also reliving the fulfillment of assisting those who don’t have access to health care.
Community Service Learning (CSL) — The CSL initiative stems from Tufts School of Medicine's belief that the role of a physician extends beyond the clinic and hospital walls, and that future physicians will benefit from experience working in the community. We need volunteer faculty reviewers to mentor students in their CSL activity and to review each student's final report about their completed projects.