As part of its strategic plan for diversity and inclusion, UW School of Medicine and Public Health is partnering with The Ladder, a national community-based mentorship and health education pathway program. SMPH will function as a branch of The Ladder, which was started in Minnesota in 2012, by Renee Crichlow, MD. The program will officially launch at SMPH in Summer 2018.
View more information about the Minnesota branch.
Students can participate in The Ladder as early as fourth grade and continue with the program through middle, high school, college, graduate level training and throughout their health professional careers. Each intergenerational chapter of the program meets monthly in a structured environment of service learning, leadership development and cascading mentorship. The goal is to prepare future physicians and other health professionals from diverse, urban and medically underserved communities, who will provide care in those communities. Along the way, the program seeks to bridge the divide between communities and their academic neighbors by linking young members and their families to pathways for academic and professional success.
Guided by the Office of Human Resources, Equity and Inclusion, two faculty members will serve as co-directors. These individuals will provide mentorship and curriculum design insight for the program at SMPH, with advisory support from the SMPH’s Equity and Diversity Committee and with administrative support from the Outreach and Communications Manager for Diversity and Inclusion.
If you have questions about The Ladder please contact Associate Dean for Human Resources Equity and Inclusion Brian Gittens at bgittens@wisc.edu, or Outreach and Communications Manager for Diversity and Inclusion Beverly Hutcherson at bhutcherson@wisc.edu.
