The Office of Diversity’s goal is to recruit, retain and increase the number of minority students enrolled in the Keck School and to provide counsel to minority medical students as well as to high school and undergraduate students. The office was established more than 30 years ago through a grant from the Josiah Macy Foundation.

The counseling offered by the office is designed to provide psychosocial and academic support to help students adjust to medical school, assist students in the acquisition of housing and other services, and engage students in inter-ethnic community activities.

Keck in the Community

• Alhambra High School Mentorship Program

  The Alhambra High School Mentorship Program was recently organized by the Latino Medical Student Association and the Student National Medical Association. First year and second year medical students were matched the Alhambra High School students interested in pre-med. The goal of the program is for the mentor and the mentee to build a strong trusting relationship, through which, the high school students can build his/her self-esteem. The role of the mentor is to help the mentee explore his/her own academic interests. Students are highly motivated and will benefit from the medical student’s experiences and guidance. An annual dinner is held at Alhambra High School for mentors, mentees, and their parents for everyone to meet. Since the inception, the mentors have been meeting individually or with their respective groups to do a great variety of activities. The Alhambra High School staff is delighted with the program.

  If you need more information, please call the Office of Diversity at 323 442-1050.

• Educacion Primero

  Educacion Primero is a program that was designed by the medical students at the Keck School of Medicine, the Latino Medical Student Association and the Student National Medical Association to work with the fast growing minority elementary population in the underserved areas in Los Angeles. As medical students, we are both mentors and role models to the students who we work with. Currently we are working with 100 wonderful fifth grade classes at Eastman Avenue Elementary School in East Los Angeles.

  The program consists of two Wednesday visits per month. The visits include classroom lesson and laboratory components. In addition, at the end of the year, the elementary school students enjoy a field trip to the Keck School of Medicine at USC. The field trip consists of student speakers, a pig-heart dissection, lunch and a graduation ceremony where the students are provided with scrub tops and a certificate of completion.

  The program is an experience where both the elementary school students and the medical students learn from each other. The elementary school children learn about medicine – that it is possible to become doctors; the medical students learn not to forget where they came from.

  For more information, please call the Office of Diversity at 323-442-1050.

• El Centro Chicano

  A partnership between El Centro Chicano was established with the Office of Diversity in 2009. El Centro Chicano is housed at the University Park Campus, their mission “El Centro Chicano fosters a community of critically thinking, socially conscious Chicana/o and Latina/o leaders; providing personal, social and academic support through graduation and beyond. In conjunction with the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs (CBCSA), they welcome new Black and Latino students to meet current students, attend workshops and learn more about USC. All freshmen, transfers, re-entry and graduate students are invited to participate. Our medical students form panels of discussion to premed students, mentor them and participate in their Annual Chicano/Latino Graduation.

  If you would like more information, please call the Office of Diversity at 323-442-1050 or El Centro Chicano at 213-740-1480.

• Ethnic Physician Organization Section

  California Medical Association Ethnic Medical Organization (EMOS) The eXchange Learning (or “XL”) is a program that aims to help aspiring medical students in the 2nd and 3rd year succeed in reaching their goals of becoming successful physicians through consistent guidance from experienced physicians. As an EMOS LX medical student mentee, you will be paired with a compatible EMOS member physician from whom you can seek advice and gain valuable insight into the medical profession. You will be in regular contact with your mentor through phone call, emails, and face-to-face interactions. The time requirement for participating in XL will vary depending on what you and your mentor deem appropriate. XL recommends that you stay in electronic and real-time contact at regular intervals, at least once every 1-2 months.

  If you would like more information, please call the Office of Diversity, 323-442-1050.

• Franciso Bravo Medical Magnet High School

  Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School is located walking distance from the USC Health Sciences campus. A partnership with Keck School of Medicine and our medical students has providing tutoring to the students at Bravo that interested in medicine. This effort provides educational, cultural and developmental opportunities for the Bravo students. The program was implemented as part of USC’s Children and Family University Community Initiative. Throughout the year they meet to tutor, encourage and help them establish good study skills and help them with applications to college. An annual health fair is also coordinated and held in the surrounding area of East Los Angeles.

  If you need more information, please call the Office of Diversity at 323-442-1050.

• Tom Bradley Mini Medical School Program

  The program involves mentoring and teaching four fourth grade classrooms at Tom Bradley Elementary School in South Los Angeles. The goal is to expose the student to minority medical students as well as scientific information in hopes of sparking their interest in medicine and advanced education. Approximately once a month, twenty medical students to the elementary school for 1.5 hours to teach a medical lesson that involves lecture, active learning and experimentation. The students are given a homework assignment at the completion of each session that involves them teaching their parents what they learned. The schedule includes nutrition, the disease process and antibiotic resistance via AWARE, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, heart anatomy, and heart attacks and high blood pressure.

  At the end of the year, there is a field trip to Keck School of Medicine, USC. The field trip includes another heart lesson integrated in the dissection of a pig’s heart, a tour of USC medical school, a decathlon of activities in which students creatively review what they’ve learned over the year, lunch and a graduation ceremony, where the students graduating from Tom Bradley Mini Medical School will receive a certificate and a “Tom Bradley Mini Medical School” scrub top. At their ceremony, four students are selected to get a medical school mentor to encourage their journey toward medicine beyond their fourth grade classroom.

Student Organizations

• APAMSA

  The Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine seeks to promote health and well-being for East Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander communities and individuals, as well as other populations of color, through community involvement and medical student education.

  The diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander communities in Los Angeles necessitates raising awareness of and addressing unmet health needs specific to each community. These goals stand behind current projects of youth mentorship, health fairs, Hepatitis B community outreach, cultural events, bone marrow registration drives, and research opportunities.

• Hippocrates Circle Program

  The mission of the Hippocrates Circle Program is to provide awareness that a career as a physician is possible to youth from underrepresented communities and diverse backgrounds. This will be accomplished through the collaborative efforts of local school districts, medical schools, physicians from the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, and Kaiser Permanente sponsorship. The Hippocrates Circle Program will strive to strengthen the self-esteem of young people and to empower them to pursue their goal to become a physician. For the selected individuals enrolled in the Hippocrates Circle, this will include several opportunities in their fellowship to interact with practicing physicians and to increase their understanding of the various roles physicians plan in the health field.

  Medical students volunteer as speakers, tour guides and mini medical workshops.

• Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA)

  The Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) is a network of students, alumni, and health professionals whose mission is to promote the development of Latino students through educational, volunteer, professional and networking opportunities to foster diversity, higher education, and the improvement of the Latino community. LMSA at USC is one of twelve chapters that make up the larger LMSA regional organization on the West coast. We are a group of diverse students from different ethnicities and backgrounds that is dedicated to improving the outside community through outreach, mentorship, and service.

• Medical Gay and Lesbian Organization (medGLO)

  MedGLO, the Medical Gay and Lesbian Organization for LGBTQI life at the USC Health Sciences Campus, supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and genderqueer students, faculty, and staff at USC’s Health Sciences Campus.

  Through its student-organized confidential email list, social events, activism, and programming, MedGLO strives to:

  • improve the educational environment for LGBTQI Providers-in-Training
  • educate the student body about cultural competency in LGBTQI
  • improve the quality of and access to health care for LGBTQI patients

  Allies are an integral part of our community and are welcomed at all events. MedGLO is also not just for medical students; anyone in the health sciences is welcome!

  For more information, please visit our website at www.scf.usc.edu/medglo

• Native American Student Organization

  The Native American Student Association at Keck School of Medicine, USC, sponsored by the Office of Diversity was established in 2008. 

  • The purpose is to provide a support and resource network for all Native Americans currently enrolled in the various allied health professions schools. 
  • To increase the number of Native American students in medicine and other health professions.
  • To support and encourage organizations that are working to improve health conditions of Native Americans and are enhancing the availability of careers for Native Americans in health fields.

  For more information, please call the Office of Diversity at 323 442-1050.

• Student National Medical Association (SNMA)

  The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is the student-run organization dedicated to the enrichment and learning of medical students as well as the surrounding community. The USC chapter of SNMA offers a variety of community, university, and social events geared towards this goal. We love having a good time and serving our community, even winning Regional Chapter of the Year last year! We’ve listed some of the events and projects that will be happening this year.