From the UK College of Medicine's website:
The Behavioral Science Department (BSC) in the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky recognizes the political, social, and structural inequities that have created significant health disparities among historically excluded and underserved populations. These disparities are compounded by historical and contemporary biases across the healthcare system. Additionally, there is a severe national shortage of physician-leaders dedicated to addressing the health needs of historically excluded and underserved communities. In response, we are proud to offer the Health Disparities Research and Training Fellowship to qualified first-year medical students. The goal of this fellowship is to enhance students' understanding of health disparities and healthcare inequities and to better equip them to serve historically excluded and underserved populations.
Three students recently received their fellowships:
Dr. Raven Piercey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral Science. She has a Master's degree in Counseling from Auburn University and a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Kentucky. She is the course director for MD 811: Introduction to Clinical Medicine I, a first- year medical school course that focuses on physician-patient communication, clinical skills, and systemic factors influencing health outcomes. MD 811 is a small group-based course with 50+ faculty members teaching across three regional campuses. She leads faculty development seminars in the area of small group teaching and assessment. In addition to her course administrative duties, she is responsible for developing curriculum and assessments in clinical skill development, reflective practice, and health equity topics. Dr. Piercey's service includes working on various committees tasked with the expansion of the medical school curriculum to regional campuses in both Bowling Green and Northern Kentucky. Dr. Piercey is also a member of the Department’s curriculum committee and the faculty sponsor for Narrative Medicine at UKCOM, a student interest group. Her research interests are in the area of medical education. Along with two colleagues, Dr. Piercey published a paper titled “Moving Upstream in Prescription Opioid Education” in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. This paper addressed the role of medical education in the current opioid epidemic. Dr. Piercey also co-led a workshop at the International Health Humanities Consortium Conference at Stanford University, focusing on how humanities activities are best marketed to students across a variety of educational contexts. Dr. Piercey is currently involved in projects focusing on reflective practice across the medical school curriculum and narrative medicine.
