Evaluation of an Innovative Medical Student Course Integrating Medicine and Public Health

Isha Jain, MD, MPH; Parvathy Pillai, MD, MPH; Patrick L. Remington, MD, MPH

WMJ. 2025;124(2):165-168

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ABSTRACT

Introduction: Educating medical students about the importance of integrating public health into their careers is challenging.

Methods: Medical student demographics, weekly written reflections, and course evaluations for a storytelling-based, public health-oriented elective were reviewed.

Results: Compared to students who did not enroll in the course, enrolled students were more likely to be female (71% vs 48%, P = 0.001). Student reflections revealed 2 major themes: (1) public health can be integrated into any specialty career; (2) career paths are often nonlinear. Students were highly satisfied with the course (mean 6.5, scale 1–7).

Discussion: Courses aiming to inspire medical students to integrate public health into their career should consider a similar storytelling approach.

Author Affiliations: Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin (Jain, Pillai, Remington).
Corresponding Author: Isha Jain, MD, MPH, email ijain@baltimorecountymd.gov; ORCID ID 0009-0002-4148-8236
Funding/Support: None declared.
Financial Disclosures: None declared.
Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge the Wisconsin Partnership Program, which provides support for the Preventive Medicine Residency Program, and Sarah Zander of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health Academic Affairs office, who helped obtain student characteristic data.

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