» New partnership offers clerkship opportunities
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New partnership offers clerkship opportunities
Greater New Bedford Community Health Center to serve as clinical training affiliate

By Lisa Larson
UMass Medical School Communications 		August 29, 2011 
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The Greater New Bedford Community Health Center (GNBCHC) and UMass Medical School have signed an agreement that designates GNBCHC as an educational affiliate of the commonwealth’s only public medical school.

The agreement allows UMMS students to participate in clerkships at GNBCHC, beginning this fall. Through clinical clerkships, medical and nursing students enter hospital wards, ambulatory clinics and physician offices and serve as participating members of health care teams, often for the first time. Under faculty guidance and supervision, students apply the principles of clinical medicine to patient care, acquire essential technical skills and develop the personal and professional values that enable them to serve as caring, competent and compassionate physicians and nurses.

Peter C. Georgeopoulos, president and CEO of GNBCHC said, “This partnership benefits all those involved, especially the Health Center patients who will receive high quality care not only from our staff but from the students who will train with us. The students, in turn, will be joining team members who are deeply committed to their patients’ well being. We look forward to welcoming UMass Medical School students and to providing them with an excellent health care experience.”

“Partnering with regional health organizations that provide primary care for many local communities in Massachusetts is an important component of our academic strategy,’’ said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medicine, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine. “UMass Medical School students will receive hands-on training second to none at Greater New Bedford Community Health Center, which will enhance the professional development of our students. I have to credit Dr. Leonard Morse for his vision, which laid the groundwork for this partnership.”

Under the new arrangement, students in the population health course from the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Nursing will participate in a two-week clerkship at GNBCHC this fall. The health population course teaches students to work collaboratively as they study health issues that affect a particular population or community. In New Bedford, students will work with GNBCHC staff, interview patients and tour local neighborhoods.

GNBCHC will host other educational opportunities for UMMS students in the future, under this new agreement.