With your support, Career Help Advancement and Achievement Mentorship Program (CHAMP) provides integrated mentorship and wellness programming for underrepresented in medicine (URiM) students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and local middle school students at Pittsburgh Arsenal 6-8 School. The brainchild of UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Physician-in-Chief and Scientific Director Terrence Dermody, MD, the initiative aims to increase professional development opportunities for URiM students, while promoting careers in pediatrics, medicine, and higher education for local middle schoolers.
Under the direction of UPMC Children’s Sylvia Owusu-Ansah MD, MPH, Associate Vice Chair of Diversity, Orquidia Torres, MD, MS, Associate Program Director, Adolescent Medicine Fellowship Program, and Noel Spears, MD, MPH, Vice Chair of Education, CHAMP provides comprehensive mentorship to those involved. Offering an experience bridge to both URiM Pitt students and Arsenal middle schoolers, CHAMP brings together physician-leaders, students, educators, community organizers, government agencies, and other local leaders to interact with and learn from each other.
CHAMP is an initiative that draws upon the distinct strengths of UPMC Children’s, Pittsburgh Public Schools, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (UPSOM), to grow the pipeline of URiM physicians, researchers, and educators. CHAMP recruits URiM medical students to learn about pediatrics, obtain one-on-one paired mentoring from faculty, and participate in monthly sessions on needs-based academic and life skills. In addition to learning how to mentor others, CHAMP URiM medical students discuss topics ranging from wellness and time management to financial planning. To date, 20 medical students are involved in the program—six of whom have been selected to serve on the CHAMP Steering Committee.
CHAMP medical students further work to develop and participate in health curriculum for middle school students. With a framework based in middle school science curricula, CHAMP lesson plans provide fun and engaging activities and instruction for Arsenal students. CHAMP medical students developed a written plan for CHAMP and document their successes along the way, so that the initiative may be replicated elsewhere. Medical students also partnered with CHAMP leadership to obtain and receive Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Arsenal students to participate in the program—a critical step for medical trainees to learn should they engage in any translational or clinical research on human subjects in the future. We remain so proud of our CHAMP medical students and grateful for your investment in their work!
Since launching in 2020—at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—CHAMP has made a difference in the lives of URiM medical students, local middle schoolers, and the greater Pittsburgh community.
Thanks to your philanthropy, CHAMP continues to grow. As you know, CHAMP’s youth-facing work centers on Pittsburgh Arsenal. A small school serving the greater Lawrenceville community, Pittsburgh Arsenal 6-8 offers a challenging middle school curriculum focused on higher achievement. The 150 pupils who make up the Arsenal student body—all of whom benefit from some facet of CHAMP programming—represent over 26 countries, including Kenya, Somalia, Burundi, and Mexico. Arsenal instructors and staff teach students to acknowledge and appreciate various cultures, while providing every student with the tools they need to excel. A few short blocks down the road from UPMC Children’s main hospital campus, Arsenal 6-8 is the ideal location for CHAMP programming.
Through charitable support, CHAMP has provided Arsenal with direct programming and mentorship opportunities for 7th and 8th graders, as well as indirect support for all students and families. CHAMP faculty works closely with the school leadership, nurse, science teacher, and other school personnel focused on student success. As a part of its mentorship focus, CHAMP helped to secure upgraded lab equipment for the Arsenal science program. CHAMP has also prioritized meeting students’ basic needs—providing wellness and hygiene supplies to students during virtual schooling, distributing bookbags filled with supplies at the start of the school year, and offering students and their families information about caring for themselves physically and emotionally.
CHAMP would not be where it is today—expanding to better meet the needs of both our Pitt medical students and our middle schoolers—without your generous investment!
We remain deeply grateful for your part in our successes to date!
As we reflect on a tremendous two years of CHAMP programming, we do so with profound appreciation for the many community leaders, service providers, hospital leaders, students, and donors who make this unique program possible. With your partnership, CHAMP is impacting the lives of our UPMC Children’s faculty, URiM Pitt medical students, and children at Pittsburgh Arsenal, while fostering a more inclusive, representative community for all.