The Human Dimension at Five Years: Changing Lives in the Community

Reaching out into the community has always been one of the core foundational principles of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. Since the first students walked in the doors of the school in 2018, the Human Dimension (HD) has been educating them to reach out beyond the school’s walls to truly understand what impacts health and to make a difference in New Jersey communities.

Now entering its seventh year, this longitudinal, 3-year-long course which pairs students with individuals and families out in the community can take a measure of its impact - and its accelerating growth:

More than 650 families and households visited by medical students. Nearly 100 Community Health Projects. Greater than 400 Capstone projects each focused on different Determinants of Health to improve lives in underserved areas. More than 300 total community partners. About 250 community outreach events since 2022.

Together, it all adds up to making a difference. Benefactors have also taken notice, supporting the program and enabling growth – across the medical school, and now at the residency level.

“This is a fantastic program, and one that separates us from most other schools,” said Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., the president and dean of HMSOM. “It’s what really ‘puts our money where our mouth is,’ so to speak.”

“We are continuously evolving our program to meet the needs of our communities, finding ways for our future doctors to make a greater impact,” said Carmela Rocchetti, M.D., the director of HD and assistant dean of Community Engaged Medical Education at the school. “We deeply value our community partners; they are our students’ greatest teachers”

Among the recent highlights:

• Two standout Capstone projects, (amongst many impactful projects), enabling each student to reflect upon, integrate, and discover possible solutions to, major themes experienced throughout the three-year HD curriculum. “Bridging Gaps: Empowering Unsinured Patients through a Student-driven Charity Care Assistant Program” sought to make a difference by eliminating disconnects in the system; and “A Student-run Clinic Medical School Elective to Improve Adherence to Postoperative Follow Up” was another way a student found to make a targeted difference through their observations and years of experience at HMSOM.
• Community Immersion Projects have allowed students to make a direct difference immediately after finishing the three-year core curriculum. Projects include setting up and educating students for language interpreting, particularly Spanish, and also helping to train students to better understand the need for doula services during gynecological procedures of all kinds. One pair of students created a whole new Women’s Health Fair which brought together a hospital and community groups to offer services and resources in Fall 2024.
• A Social Determinants of Learning K-12 Summit was held on April 11, 2024, and it brought together a platform for educators and health experts from across New Jersey to discuss ways to support the holistic development of all students.
• A Social Needs Resource Fair brought a wide array of services and organizations to support the participants reached through the Human Dimension Voices Program. Among the social needs addressed: housing and food, primary care and insurance, environmental, mental and behavioral health, and other social supports.
• The Physician for a Day program brought high schoolers to the HMSOM campus to inspire and connect the young minds to the possibility of pursuing medical careers in the years to come.
• HMSOM and Eva’s Village, the Paterson-based non-profit, have partnered in three health and wellness fairs in less than a year - which have provided invaluable health resources and services to attendees.
• A new program between Hackensack Meridian Health, St. Joseph’s Health and the Health Coalition of Passaic County has been established. The four-year collective investment is aimed at significantly improving access to high-quality care and boosting quality of life for residency of Paterson, N.J.
• The HMSOM and its HD team are involved with numerous coalitions and task forces across the region.
• The very first week of medical school includes the Human Dimension Immersion Orientation (HDIO) service learning experience, which has recently boasted 21 unique community experiences across eight cities for the entire cohort of new students arriving each summer.
• Dr. Rocchetti, the HD director, was awarded with the New Jersey Health Foundation’s EJI Excellence in Medicine Award.

“QUOTE HERE FROM A COMMUNITY GROUP - MAYBE EVA’S VILLAGE AND/OR BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB”

Based on all these many interactions, the support for HD and the school’s mission has continued to grow. Among the support:

• Carin and Roger Ehrenburg Human Dimension Voices Program. The philanthropists granted $3 million to increase support for community-engaged faculty and curriculum development - and also to expand HD into graduate medical education at HMH. This sum follows a previous $1 million gift to the program.
• The Jonathan and Lizzi Tisch Human Dimension Scholarly Capstone. The benefactors granted $1 million to help ensure students emerge from HD with robust social health causes by boosting and developing faculty mentorship in the lead-up to their aforementioned Capstone projects.
• The New Jersey Health Foundation helped support the previously described Social Determinants of Learning Summit.

The Human Dimension’s growth is expected to continue to ripple - both directly through the program, and also indirectly through the invaluable lessons it teaches HMSOM doctors-to-be.

“We believe we are helping to create the difference we want to see in health care,” said Dr. Rocchetti.