Pathways to Medicine
Statistics show that historically underrepresented communities in the United States have better health outcomes if their care providers are racially and ethnically concordant. The Warren Alpert Medical School takes seriously its responsibility to train health care professionals to provide quality care in a multicultural society.
The School achieves that mission partially through student development “pathways” programs that help foster interest in STEM-related fields among underrepresented students in Rhode Island, making them stronger candidates for medical school. It is an effort that keeps Brown ever true to its commitment
to community, diversity, and educating students to lead lives of usefulness and reputation.
The pathways programs at The Warren Alpert Medical School received a generous boost thanks to a recent gift from the Papitto Opportunity Connection, a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to investing in education, job skills training, and entrepreneurial ventures in partnership with Rhode Island’s Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. This gift allows Brown to grow its existing Month of Medicine pathway program and expand participant offerings to include MCAT prep coursework, regular meetings with faculty mentors, professional/leadership development sessions, CV preparation, and use of a SIM lab—a hands-on clinical skill facility. This is all in addition to exposure to medical school-level coursework, clinical rotation opportunities, and mentorship from Warren Alpert medical students.
“The support from [Papitto] will go a long way in helping us provide our underrepresented pre-med students with resources necessary to prepare for the medical school application process,” says Luckson Omoaregba, MS, director of pathway programs in the Office of Belonging, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Medical School. “And the mentorship our current medical students provide our Month of Medicine students will be transformational. By sharing their experiences and offering guidance on navigating the application process, they inspire and empower our students to be confident as they embark on their medical education journey.”
Month of Medicine provides a snapshot of medical education with the goal of preparing students to apply to medical schools around the country, earn degrees, and hopefully come back home to serve as health care professionals in Rhode Island. It is an important investment in one of the state’s most valuable resources—its people.
“[Papitto] knows that our communities are becoming culturally more diverse,” says John Tarantino, president of Papitto Opportunity Connection.
“We are pleased to work with The Warren Alpert Medical School so that someday soon the patients from those diverse communities will see more doctors and health care providers who look like them and better understand their vibrant cultures.”
Nurturing the Next Generation
The Warren Alpert Medical School strives to combine inspired teaching and research opportunities with expert mentorship for every student and resident. Mentorship is particularly important in medicine, where physicians not only need to know the facts of diagnosis and treatment, but also must learn how to build strong personal relationships with their patients.
From 1990 to 2016, Anthony Caldamone ’72 MMSc’75 MD’75, P’06, dedicated himself to providing this kind of guidance as the director of the Brown Urology Residency Program.
“Teaching and mentoring is what drives me,” he says. “It is the reason I chose an academic practice.
What keeps one excited about it is seeing your mentees succeed and, in many cases, surpass their own expectations.”
Over the years, Caldamone urged his trainees to be open to opportunities and connections that might not seem to fit into their assumed professional pathways. He also touted the importance of conducting research as a way to build their scientific communication skills.
“The Brown residents take this to heart,” he says. Many of those who graduated from the urology residency program appreciated Caldamone’s commitment to their growth so much that they wanted to do something special to honor him. Through a collaborative fundraising effort, they were able to endow the Anthony Angelo Caldamone, MD, Medical Research Fund.
“It is a humbling experience to have a research fund in your name,” he says. “My hope is that this fund will plant the seeds for urology residents of the future to pursue research, other academic pursuits, or medical mission work.”
When it came time for Caldamone to make his own estate plans, he knew he wanted to contribute to the future of medical education and training at Brown in some way. Working with Brown’s Office of Biomedical Advancement and the Planned Giving office, he created a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) that benefits both the Caldamone Medical Research Fund and the Brown Medical Annual Fund.
“This is just one way of giving back to a medical community that laid the foundation for my career,” he says. “Brown has an extremely enthusiastic faculty with abundant energy to support, guide, and open doors for others. That is worth passing on, and I feel fortunate to be able to contribute to that mission.”
To learn more about how you can support Brown and The Warren Alpert Medical School through planned giving, please contact the Office of Philanthropic Strategies and Planned Giving at 401-863-9119 or planned_giving@brown.edu.