AOCI Student Positions and Contributions

Action Group for Evaluation of Anti-Oppression Education

The Action Group for Evaluation of Anti-Oppression Education is an integral part of the Evaluation Plan for Anti-Oppression Education.

In May 2023, the Action Group began meeting to review aggregated data from student feedback and to generate recommendations to strengthen our anti-oppressive education practices. The Action Group will work closely with members from the Assessment, Curriculum, and Evaluations (ACE) team, Bridges Curriculum Governance, Anti-Oppression Curriculum Initiative (AOCI), and faculty development leaders for the UCSF School of Medicine’s Center for Faculty Educators to make recommendations for improving the curriculum, teaching, and the learning environment. 

A sincere thank you to the nine students who have joined the Action Group:

Welcome to the Newest AOCI Student Fellow

Please join us in welcoming Jessica Ma (she/her), MS4, who joined Alli Gomez (she/her), MS4, as a year-long AOCI Student Fellow in July. Jessica is collaborating with students, faculty, and staff on numerous projects focused on equity and anti-oppression. 

Summer 2023 Curriculum Ambassador Program (CURAM)

The Curriculum Ambassador Program is a funded summer fellowship for medical students who partner with faculty mentors to enhance the School of Medicine curriculum.

Four of the five students selected for the program partnered with AOCI faculty mentors to work on projects tied directly to the AOCI; a fifth student fellow partnered on an equity-focused project with our Associate Dean of Assessment.

AOCI-Student Collaborative

AOCI Student Fellows Jessica Ma and Alli Gomez lead the AOCI-Student Collaborative, with the support of faculty sponsors Denise Connor and Denise Davis. The Collaborative meets bi-monthly to provide guidance and input into the efforts of the AOCI. Thank you to current members and to those who have applied to join the Collaborative this year. Applications for new members are open through September 24, 2023 at 11:59pm.

For questions, please reach out to Alli Gomez and Jessica Ma.

AOCI Curricular Review Tool Revision, v7

The AOCI continues to update its Curricular Review Tool—a new version was released in July thanks to faculty and student input, and the tool will continue to be improved over time. The AOCI Curricular Review Tool is meant as a starting point in curricular review and aims to: (1) provide guidance on anti-oppression considerations for curriculum leaders, and (2) provide a place to share recommendations. Please reach out to aoci@ucsf.edu with any feedback on the review tool.

Disability and Ableism Task Force 

Launched in May 2023, and led by AOCI team members Mia Williams, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Rosny Daniel, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, along with staff member Kelly O’Brien, the Disability and Working Against Ableism Task Force is made up of students, faculty, staff, and an expert community consultant, and convened its first meeting in July 2023. Deep thanks to student members of Disability Advocacy and Support Alliance (DASA) who gave critical input on the task force charge this spring. Task force members and invited curricular leaders will engage in a Disability Justice training this fall led by one of our community partners to support their ongoing efforts. 

The Social, Structural, and Behavioral Course

Visioning Working Group 

Co-Chaired by Monica Hahn, MPH, MS, MD, Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine, and Kate Lupton, MD, Professor of Medicine, and including students, faculty, staff, and an external consultant, the Visioning Working Group first convened in late October 2022. The Visioning Working Group was charged to begin to re-imagine the Health & Society/Health & the Individual blocks at a critical time when a search for new block leadership was underway, in coordination with the AOCI’s larger efforts to integrate an anti-oppression lens into the overall SOM curriculum.

The Visioning Working Group, which will share its final recommendations with school leadership this month, will pass the baton to a new, longitudinal Advisory Group later this fall. The Advisory group will include students, faculty, and staff and will provide on-going feedback and input to the block leadership team on big-picture curricular questions and pilots (e.g., new assessment strategies and learning approaches) as well as on the exemplars used to bring course goals to life. The AOCI team will also continue to collaborate with the HS&I leadership team.

Student Experience Team AO Programs

Disability and Accommodations Working Group

This summer, the Disability and Accommodations Working Group, comprised of students, faculty, and staff, completed its assessment and report. The goals of the Working Group were to understand the current disability and accommodations procedures for UCSF medical students and to identify priorities and recommendations to promote an environment of inclusion for all learners that will promote an anti-ableism learning climate. The Working Group recently submitted a report with recommendations, and Erick Hung, MD, Associate Dean for Students, is working to identify action items and next steps. 

Launch Week and Diversity Matters Orientation (DMO)

This year’s Launch Week and DMO focused on community and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). Deans and many speakers welcomed students throughout DMO and the White Coat Ceremony and reinforced the importance of diversity and community in medical education.

New sessions offered this year included:

• History of Medicine in the United States and at UCSF through a DEI lens with speaker Brian Dolan, Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences
• An overview of Restorative Justice (RJ) principles to incoming students with facilitators Juri Sanchez, Lindsay Berkowitz, and Ramsay Boly of the Restorative Justice Program

The Office of Restorative Justice, AOCI, and school leaders continue to collaborate to consider opportunities for integrating Restorative Justice principles into the School of Medicine.

Culturally Affirming Resources

Community Building for UIM Students

On August 30, the Student Experience Team held a welcome, community-building event at the Faculty-Alumni House for all classes of UIM medical students. UIM students from the first longitudinal mentoring groups in 2022-2023 were near peer mentors for the gathering.

Student Wellness and Mental Health

Health and Wellness at Launch Week

In addition to a new panel discussion focused on how to stay healthy in medical school, Alice Hua, PhD, Counseling Psychologist, offered a wellness and mental health session during Launch Week titled “Personalized Check-in w/ Dr. Hua.” First-year students had the opportunity to opt-in to meet with Dr. Hua to discuss campus mental health and wellness resources outside of a counseling appointment.

Wellness and Mental Health Committee

The Wellness and Mental Health Committee begins meeting this September. Those interested in becoming new members were requested during Launch Week. For questions regarding Student Wellness and Mental Health, please contact DoQuyen Tran-Taylor, Director of Student Experience.

Additional Resources

CARE Advocacy Resources & Education

UCSF's CARE Program provides free, confidential support to any UCSF affiliate including students, staff, faculty, post docs, and researchers who have experienced discrimination, harassment, or abuse related to race, ethnicity, national origin or other protected identities AND to any UCSF affiliate who has experienced interpersonal violence such as sexual assault, dating/intimate partner violence, sexual harassment or stalking.

View the CARE Program's upcoming events.