Metcalf named 2024 Gold Student Summer Fellow

By Irene Zampetoulas

Gold Foundation selects 7 summer projects designed to support humanistic care in underserved communities

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is delighted to announce that 13 medical students have been selected as 2024 Gold Student Summer Fellows. They will be spearheading summer projects that amplify humanistic healthcare and help address health inequities through service and research projects that involve direct interaction with patients and community members.

This year’s projects touch upon a vast array of topics, including:

• Expanding health literacy by establishing a strong partnership between Penn State College of Medicine and volunteers at Mid-State Literacy Council, a program located in State College, PA, that serves adult basic literacy and English language learners
• Developing and evaluating a training program for emotional resilience for care partners of people who are living with dementia and who are experiencing significant mental and physical health challenges
• Establishing and disseminating resources to enhance mental healthcare available to patients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa, an inflammatory skin disease with a higher prevalence in historically underserved populations
• Addressing the need for increased health literacy to improve access to reproductive healthcare and increase utilization of women’s health services through the EmpowHER Bracelet Workshops
• Tackling barriers to healthcare services and resources faced by migrant farm workers in Hammonton, New Jersey
• Developing strategies to support people experiencing homelessness in North Carolina with ongoing care that addresses their evolving needs
• Supporting justice-involved adolescent males ages 15-17 in an exploration of possible healthcare careers during a weeklong collaboration between Educators for Education (E4E) and Drexel University’s College of Medicine

The Gold Foundation offers Gold Student Summer Fellowships annually to provide opportunities for medical students to deepen their understanding of health inequities, to advance culturally responsive care, and to direct attention toward community health needs. These research and service projects train students to become discerning and human-centered physicians while also answering the call for public health initiatives in underserved populations. The Gold Foundation is grateful to the Mellam Family Foundation for its support of this program.

“Gold Student Summer Fellowships offer medical students the opportunity to explore healthcare beyond the hospital walls,” said Elizabeth Cleek, PsyD, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of the Gold Foundation. “This year, we are delighted to fund seven excellent, student-designed projects that foster human-centered care and incorporate the essential voices of patients and community members.  Each project will not only make a tangible difference, but will inform the ways in which Summer Fellows will impact healthcare for the better as they move forward in their careers.”

The 13 Gold Student Summer Fellows this year hail from seven medical schools:

Molly Stegman
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Building Health Literacy Bridges: Enhancing English Language Learner Programming with Healthcare Collaboration

Delaney Metcalf
Augusta University, Medical College of Georgia
Emotional Resilience Training to Support Care Partners of Patients Living with Dementia

Peter Dimitrion
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Improving Mental Health Outcomes for Patients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Annesha Datta and Neha Maddali
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
EmpowHER Bracelet Workshop: Increasing Sexual and Reproductive Health Literacy to Advance Women’s Health

Mahhum Naqvi, Justin Stout, Colton Spencer, and Bijan Roghanchi
Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine
Health Screening Event for Migrant Farm Workers Facing Barriers to Healthcare

Anahita Gupta and Esther Lee
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Improving Care Coordination for Patients Experiencing Homelessness at UNC Health

Vikki Rueda and Doger Norceide
Drexel University College of Medicine
Career Development and Health Awareness Program

Read the full announcement here.

Delaney Metcalf is a third-year student at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership, and she is also currently pursuing her MPH at the University of Georgia. She is from Kennesaw, Georgia and completed her undergraduate degree in psychology/neuroscience emphasis from UGA. She looks to pursue a career in neurology, and she hopes to further specialize in movement disorders with an emphasis on neurodegenerative diseases and rural neurological care.