Friends & Colleagues, 

Well before the doors of the UNLV School of Medicine opened in 2017, community leaders and public officials, in addition to everyone who worked to make the dream of an academic health center in Southern Nevada a reality, agreed that the medical school would be deeply engaged with the community. The school’s commitment to the community is quickly made clear to incoming students: Students engage in a six week course called Immersions EMT/Population Health with optional EMT certification. They also explore a neighborhood and learn how to conduct a community health assessment, a major tool used in Population Health to determine areas of need and possible realistic intervention targets for positive change. In recent months, our clinical practice, UNLV Medicine, has played a key role in COVID-19 testing and treatment in Southern Nevada. In today’s newsletter, we feature yet another example of the medical school’s involvement in the community -- our department of pediatrics will direct medical care at a soon-to-open skilled nursing facility for children.