Team Leader Resources

Thinking of developing a new Population and Community Health Clerkship (PCHC)?  

Team leaders shape and lead the experience of a small group of third year medical students as they explore the community resources available for specific populations or communities of interest.   You choose how many students are a good fit for your organization and/or project, and then complete a team description describing the need and a tentative action plan, which will be added to the catalog for students.   Students will rank their top choices and be placed on teams in May.  For nine of the 12 clerkship days, you'll have the opportunity to work with students to address a community-identified need.  One day of each PCHC period will include a large group activity for students, with community partners invited and encouraged to join us. 

Here's a quick overview, with details and the forms you'll need below. 

Timeline

• Jan-April: Team development (identify leaders, develop plan and description)

• March 26, 9-10:30 Orientation PCHC Panel, on Zoom

• April 25: Team descriptions need to be submitted using this survey link. 

• May 5:  Catalog to learners for ranking

• May 12: Rankings due

• May 24: Teams announced

• June 24-27, September 23-26, March 31-April 2: Host PCHC team

• April 3, 2026: Presentation Day

• April 3, 2026: Students' last day to submit assignments

• April 10, 2026: Student evaluations should be submitted using Qualtrics surveys distributed by PCHC leadership

Each PCHC small group "team" should focus on a specific population or community defined by membership in a social or geographic group that may be useful for learners to consider when providing medical care (eg: seniors at risk of falls, veterans, people living with chronic skin conditions, people of child-bearing age).  Our goal is to help learners see 

• how membership in a community can make it easier or more difficult for patients to be healthy, and

•  how thinking about a population as the unit of care can lead them to local-level and structural solutions. 

RESPONSIBILITIES are often shared between several members of each clerkship's team leadership.   Ideally, team leadership will include a combination of people that includes all of these characteristics: 

• a faculty appointment at UMass Chan

• connection to a community partner organization working with the population of interest.  

• ability to demonstrate the real-world use of data to define and understand a population

• clinical experience relevant to the population or community

• administrative and communication skills 

• protected time to develop a schedule in advance 

• protected time to spend with learners for 10 days as specified in course materials

• time and ability to read and respond to reflective writing during the clerkship and assign grades for professionalism and engagement at the conclusion*

• knowledge of a community need that could be addressed through service

*Note that the evaluation component is under review and may change in Academic Year (AY) 2025/26

Each team must have at least one faculty co-lead to oversee development of the schedule, ensure that expectations are met and assignments completed, and to determine student grades.  This person must hold an active faculty appointment at UMass Chan Medical School, to include those at sites affiliated through PURCH Baystate and LEAD at Lahey. 

We encourage teams to identify community-based co-leads, people who work somewhere other than UMass Chan whose professional roles and/or lived experience allows them to contribute unique and valuable insight that will improve our learners' ability to understand, connect with and provide the best care for the population of interest for your team.  Ideally, the service project and learning experience will be shaped by community-defined ideas for engagement.  Community co-leads are eligible to apply for faculty appointments after two years of meaningful participation.

Some teams have student co-leads, who work with team leaders to connect with community partners, identify  and plan potential service projects, and develop schedules for the PCHC dates.  There are opportunities to use Pathway dedicated time preparing a community-based experience that furthers the community-identified goals of a longitudinal project.  Student engaged in planning have the opportunity to pre-select into the team without participation in the ranking process, and to take a student co-lead role.  

 Student co-leads provide a perspective informed by the relationships they have built in advance. They often aid with social media communication during the clerkship to ensure all team members know where to be and when during the immersion.   Students are not expected to develop clerkship schedules without close and consistent academic and/or community faculty involvement and guidance throughout the process. Student co-leads should not be asked to read and respond to reflections or assign grades. 

Note that this is a new site, still in development. We welcome feedback at PCHC@umassmed.edu .