​Standing events

 

Día de los Muertos

Día de los Muertos is a traditional Mexican celebration to remember the loved ones who are no longer with us and celebrate their lives.  The Latino Medical Student Association invite students, faculty and staff to come learn the cultural significance of the celebration of one’s memory after they have passed.  Student build an ofrenda in the medical student lounge to commemorate family, friends, or loved ones that are no longer with us.  To honor their loved ones memory, students contribute photos, favorite food, music, quotes, cherished items and written works to the ofrenda.  The event focuses on the celebration of death and the memory of the life of your loved ones.

 

LGBT PHam Rainbow pin ceremony

The Rainbow Pin Ceremony is an annual event sponsored by LGBTQ+ PhaM, a joint student interest group at UCSD School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. This lunchtime event features a presentation on key healthcare disparities facing the LGBTQ+ community and time for open-ended discussion with featured panelists. At the end of the ceremony, attendees receive a rainbow caduceus pin that they may wear while interacting with patients. This affords an opportunity both to LGBTQ+ patients to feel safer and more comfortable in their interactions with healthcare personnel, and to trainees to demonstrate and honor a lifelong dedication to advocating the unique and historically unmet needs of the LGBTQ+ community. Past panels have featured various physicians in relevant fields, including infectious disease, primary care, endocrinology, and psychiatry; community advocates; and patients willing to share personal experiences in healthcare related to their LGBTQ+ identity. The ceremony has also in some years highlighted several personal coming out stories, submitted anonymously by willing members of the student body before the event. While the format varies slightly from year to year, as it's up to current first-year students in LGBTQ+ PhaM to organize the event to their liking, the annual Rainbow Pin Ceremony remains an essential celebration of visibility and advocacy of the LGBTQ+ community and an important commitment to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusivity in health sciences education.

 

Diversity in Medicine lectureship

The Diversity in Medicine Lecture Series was established 2014 by  a PRIME-Health Equity student, Dr. Daniel Woolridge (current UCSF Pediatrician).  He initiated the quarterly Diversity in Medicine Lectureship series to celebrate diverse faculty and their health equity practice, research and advocacy.  The lectureship showcases research and scholarly work conducted by faculty from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in medicine working on issues of health disparities.  Our inaugural Diversity in Medicine lecturer was Dr. David Pride NOVA | PBS who continues to lead SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics.  Our recent Diversity in Medicine lecturers have included alumni, and national and regional leaders including:

Dr. Eliseo Perez-Stable, NIH Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, 

Dr. Peter Bretan, President of the California Medical Association

Dr. Jeff Henderson, UCSD SOM alumnus, President of Black Hills Center for American Indian Health.

 

Blanket Ceremony

UC San Diego School of Medicine greatly respects the original stewards of the land where our campus is located. We hold an annual blessing ceremony and blanket presentation for our incoming American Indian and Alaska Native medical students in partnership with the Kumeyaay Nation and UC San Diego Program in Medical Education – Transforming Indigenous Doctor Education (PRIME-TIDE). We respect the heritage of our students and work closely with our campus and community partners to support them, maintain an environment that they are home in, and celebrate their professional commitment to health and wellness.