Office of Multicultural Affairs

The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) strives to promote a climate that embraces diversity and inclusion, leading the school’s outreach initiatives to increase the number of historically underrepresented students in medicine. It provides guidance to campus-community educational partnerships, summer research efforts and initiatives targeted towards expanding diverse participation in the health professions. Additionally, the OMA offers advising and mentoring of promising medical school applicants as well as advising and counseling for current medical students at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Student Recruitment

Augmenting our admissions office recruitment efforts, The Office of Multicultural Affairs takes leadership for the School’s student diversity outreach initiatives, including its recruitment and enrollment activities for racial and ethnic populations underrepresented in medicine. UWSMPH includes African American or Black; Hispanic, Latino or Chicano; Native Americans or Alaska Natives; Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders; and Southeast Asian (Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese).

Building Community and Outreach

The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) programming extends from pre-college recruitment through graduation from UWSMPH. OMA provides opportunities to interact with prospective students, welcome new students, build community, and celebrate graduating students.

1. Extended Admitted Student Visit Day: Each spring, OMA-HPL invites prospective admitted students to visit Madison and the School of Medicine and Public Health. The purpose of the event is to give admitted students the opportunity to learn more about our academic environment and the resources available to them during their medical school journey. The day’s events allow admitted students to start building connections with their future classmates, current medical students, faculty, and staff.
2. Family Empowerment Day: high school students and their parents attend a full day of events geared to provide information about UWSMPH academic offerings,
3. Pre-Health Career Day: for undergraduate students attending private and public universities within Wisconsin. Sessions focus on financial aid, admissions processes, and hands on activities such as organ demonstrations. Pre-Health Career Day also includes mock interviews, personal statement development, and opportunities to interact with current professional students. Since these events were reformatted in 2018, about 85 students and parents have participated in Family Empowerment Day and around 65 undergraduate students have attended Pre-Health Career Day.
4. We also provide guidance to several campus-community educational linkages, summer research efforts, and initiatives targeted towards expanding diverse undergraduate participation in the health professions. Premedical advising and interaction with merit-based and enrichment programs as well as pre-health organizations have been critical in identifying and mentoring promising medical school applicants.
   • Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Wisconsin AHEC offers a variety of education and training programs designed to increase the diversity and distribution of the healthcare workforce and enhance healthcare quality and delivery in rural and medically underserved communities across Wisconsin.
   • Mentorship Achievement Program (MAP) is an organization of SMPH health professions students who are committed to providing mentorship to local middle schoolers.
   • MEDiC is a student-run program of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Health professions students and volunteer clinicians offer free health care to underserved populations at six clinics.
   • Native American Center for Health Professions (NACHP) provides a supportive, mentoring environment for Indigenous health professional students at UW–Madison, with the goal of improving the health and well-being of Native people and communities.
   • Rural and Urban Scholars in Community Health (RUSCH) is a premed pipeline program designed to select and nurture students who show an interest in practicing medicine in Wisconsin’s rural and urban underserved communities.
   • Training in Urban Medicine and Public Health (TRIUMPH) is an urban training track within the MD program that addresses health inequities and chronic physician shortages in Wisconsin’s urban areas. It prepares UW medical students to become community-engaged physician leaders who are committed to promoting health equity within disadvantaged urban communities.

Staying Connected

OMA offers an array of resources for current students to enhance their educational experiences and grow as individuals and professionals:

• Building Equitable Access to Mentorship (BEAM) is an evidence-based mentoring program that leverages the experience and expertise of SMPH faculty members to create relationships and provide ongoing support for our medical students. This program specifically focuses on providing and fostering mentoring relationships for individuals from historically underrepresented groups in medicine.
• Alumni Reception – OMA-HPL hosts an alumni reception during homecoming weekend each fall. This is a chance for current students to connect with alumni personally and to be welcomed into the SMPH community that thrives outside of school and the programs.
• OMA-HPL Dinners – OMA-HPL sponsors a series of monthly dinner series where students gather to hear from a diverse array of accomplished faculty members who share stories about their journey in medicine as clinicians, researchers, and educators. These events are intended to foster personal connections between learners and faculty through a semi-structured group setting that allows for thoughtful and open communication. This event provides students the opportunity to network and develop relationships.
• Graduation Reception – At the end of the academic year, OMA-HPL holds a graduation reception for health profession learners, graduating students, and their guests. The ceremony acknowledges our graduates’ hard work and dedication while also recognizing individuals who have supported them in reaching their goals. Graduates share personal experiences and reflect on their time at SMPH as they acknowledge the mentors, faculty, family, and friends who have helped them throughout their medical school journey.

Contact Us:

The Office of Multicultural Affairs is located on the first floor of the Health Sciences Learning Center.
1110 Health Sciences Learning Center
750 Highland Ave.
Madison, WI 53705
608-265-4867
oma@med.wisc.edu