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 Second Look: OMA invites prospective students from underrepresented backgrounds to spend extra time learning about UW SMPH and interacting with current 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.
   • Rural and Urban Scholars in Community Health (RUSCH)
   • Undergraduate student organizations
   • Health Professions Shadowing Program (who exactly & need link)
   • LADDER – A national community-based mentorship and health education pathway program for elementary students. SMPH will function as a branch of The Ladder, which was started in Minnesota in 2012, by Renee Crichlow, MD.
   • MEDiC – A student-led organization running free health clinics throughout the Madison area in places like homeless shelters and traditional housing facilities.
   • Mentorship Achievement Program – Medical and Pharmacy students serve as role models for a one-year mentorship program with at-risk middle school students.
   • The HOPE Program is a one-day seminar that is designed to offer under-represented groups of high school students the opportunity to learn about a list of more than 40 specific careers in health care with the guidance of a college mentor.

Staying Connected

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

• Monthly Dinners feature a diverse array of interesting and accomplished faculty to share stories of their paths to medicine in a small group setting where personal connection is the goal.
• Safe Space offers students a virtual outlet and freedom to discuss current societal issues in a non-judgmental zone. This space is facilitated by student leaders or persons suggested by students.
• BEAM (Building Equitable Access to Mentorship) is an evidence-based mentoring program that leverages the experience and expertise of SMPH faculty members to provide mentorship to our medical students.
• Alumni Reception hosted during homecoming weekend to connect current students with minority alumni to provide an opportunity to form mentoring relationships that last beyond the weekend.

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