University of California San Francisco
UCSF School of Medicine UCSF Medical Center

Getting Involved

Addressing and dismantling structural racism and oppression within the UCSF Bridges Curriculum requires a collaborative and sustained effort from staff, students, faculty, and community partnerships. Regular reflection and candor, open communication, and a growth mindset are essential to creating lasting change within the School of Medicine.  

As the AOC Initiative progresses, additional opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to get involved will be added to this page.  

If you are interested in participating in the AOC Initiative, please share your experience, expertise, voice, and input at aoci@ucsf.edu 

See below for other ways to get involved.

Faculty and Staff

Explore opportunities to collaborate with colleagues, students, and community partners to identify and dismantle the structural racism and oppression.

Some potential starting points include: 

  • Build, expand, and share your anti-oppression (AO) network  

  • Create brave and collaborative spaces for dialogue 

  • Join AO committees, task forces, workstreams or action groups on a project-by-project basis 

  • Attend classes or workshops to further your AO education  

  • Review work practices and identify AO goals with your team, change systems and structures 

  • Acknowledge and uplift colleagues who embody AO principles or engage in AO work 

  • Ensure that AO work is elevated and highlighted on leadership agendas, communications, and staff meetings 

  • Share feedback about AO with colleagues both in and outside of your AO networks  

  • Work to incorporate and uplift diverse community perspectives, voices, and experiences that reflect a broad range of cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds in your educational efforts 

Students, Faculty, and Staff

AOCI Workstreams

The Student Support, Assessment, Technology, Evaluation, and Faculty Development workstreams welcome staff, faculty, and student volunteers on a project-by-project basis. For more information on any of the workstreams or to express interest in collaborating, please contact the AOC Initiative team.

Students

AOC Initiative Student-Collaborative 

The student members of the AOCI-Student Collaborative share recommendations and new ideas for the AOCI and provide feedback on both high-level strategy and detailed aspects of the workstreams. The AOCI-Student Collaborative also works closely with the Curriculum Governance team. Learn more about Curriculum Governance. The group meets twice monthly in the evening, usually over Zoom. 

Review the AOCI Team Structure webpage for more information on the AOCI-Student Collaborative The AOCI-Student Collaborative recruits in late-fall for new student members. To express interest in joining, please contact the AOC Initiative team – the Collaborative welcomes students who are interested in joining outside of the fall annual recruitment effort. 

Curriculum Ambassador Program

The Summer Curriculum Ambassador Program provides a funded fellowship opportunity for students during the summer between MS1 and MS2 to partner with faculty members to work on specific projects related to the AOC Initiative. Applications for Summer 2024 are due on March 18th, 2024. 

AOC Initiative Yearlong Fellowship

In 2021-2022, medical student Jazzmin Williams joined the AOC Initiative as a year-long fellow, working on a wide range of projects including a patient narrative project, the AOCI-Student Collaborative, and the race and ethnicity task force, among others.

In summer 2023, medical students Alli Gomez and Jessica Ma joined the AOC Initiative as year-long fellows. Together, Alli and Jessica are working on the following projects, a few highlights include:

  • Review and Expansion of Sex/Gender/Sexuality and Race/Ethnicity Task Force draft recommendations
  • Evaluation of AOCI's curricular review tools and processes
  • Ongoing consultations for the Center for Faculty Educators (CFE) in the development of anti-oppression/anti-racist skill building faculty development videos and modules
  • Facilitating the AOCI-Student Collaborative

Individually, Jessica is working on curriculum development focused on patient rights and safety in the context of medical-legal concerns, and Alli is working on investigating differentiated learning approaches for anti-oppression education in the clerkship curriculum, as well as developing resources to reduce microaggressions and misgendering for trans and nonbinary students and patients.

To learn more about the AOC Initiative Yearlong Fellowship, please contact the AOC Initiative team.

Additional Opportunities

For additional opportunities to get involved, students cal also connect with UCSF student organizations.