Call for Applications: 2024 Re-Imagining Medicine Fellowship
What does it mean to be a good healthcare practitioner? How do we learn to care for people, not as containers of symptoms and illness, but as bearers of stories? How do we work for just, fair, humane, and equitable practices of health care? How do the arts, ethics, and history help us prepare to practice medicine with character and creativity, to develop a sense of meaning and purpose in our work, and to encourage and empower the communities whom we serve?
If you are a current first-, second-, or third-year Duke undergraduate planning on working in health care and are interested in exploring these questions, Reimagining Medicine (ReMed) invites you to apply for a Summer 2024 Fellowship.
In this program, you are invited to imagine the ways that healthcare professionals can use their specialized knowledge and skills with humility to care for individuals, cure and prevent disease and suffering, flourish in their chosen profession, collaborate with other professionals, and work toward the greater good. Fellows will join with healthcare professionals and faculty from other disciplines to develop practices and skills that will help them to attend closely to their own stories, to the stories of the places where they live and work, and to the stories of the communities whom they plan to serve.
The Reimagining Medicine Fellowship is limited to 20 students. The priority application deadline is January 31, 2024. After that time, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until available spots are filled.
Eligibility
Current first-year, sophomore, or junior undergraduate students at Duke who are planning on careers in medicine, nursing, physical/occupational therapy, health administration, public health, or other healthcare-related disciplines are invited to participate. Priority will be given to rising juniors and seniors.
Commitment
ReMed is not a stand-alone program. To enable critical reflection on lived experiences and practices, Fellows are required to pair their participation in ReMed with an internship, employment, or service work related to health or health care over the summer. Fellows must arrange this parallel experience on their own. Practicum experiences must be at least twenty hours a week for eight weeks over the summer, and may include, but are not limited to:
- Formal Duke civic engagement or research programs, with permission from the directors of those programs
- Volunteer service in a health-related setting
- Paid employment in a hospital, clinic, public health agency, or health-related company or nonprofit
- Engagement in clinical research
Applicants must specify their proposed summer experience at the time of application. If your placement is not confirmed, please note in the application the type of experience you are considering. ReMed staff may be able to make recommendations.
Schedule
The 2024 ReMed cohort schedule has three components:
- Immersive Week: Fellows will gather in person for a week at Duke from May 12–17, 2024 (the week following commencement). This immersive week will feature shared meals and conversation, experiential learning at Duke Hospital and Duke Regional Hospital, engagement with creative writing and the visual arts, introduction to the medical humanities, and facilitated reflections on justice and equity in health care.
- Weekly Virtual Sessions: Following this week, ReMed will meet virtually for eight weeks. Fellows and faculty will gather for weekly 90-minute ReMed Seminars online to reflect on their summer experiences and to engage in conversation with leading scholars and practitioners in the medical humanities. Readings, writing exercise, and reflective practices will be assigned between seminars. These seminars will take place on Zoom from 4:30 pm–6:00 pm ET on the following Thursdays: May 30, June 6, June 13, June 20, June 27, July 11, July 18, July 25.
- Fall 2024 ReMed Dinner Gathering to reflect on and celebrate the summer ReMed cohort and student accomplishments (date TBD).
ReMed Fellows are expected to participate fully in all components of the fellowship, including the entire immersive week, and to miss no more than one virtual Seminar.
Award
For full participation in the Fellowship, Fellows will receive:
- Housing at The Lodge Hotel, located near the Duke School of Medicine (RAs and others with prior housing arrangements may opt out of the provided housing option), during the immersive week
• Meals throughout the immersive week
• $1000 honorarium
Application Questions
- Full Name
- Major (if known)
- Minor (if known)
- In 250 words or less, describe your interest in working in health care. What motivates you, and what area(s) interest you most?
- In 250 words or less, describe a time when you faced a challenge and worked to overcome it. What did you learn about yourself and others?
- In 250 words or less, describe a time when you discovered an unexpected connection with someone or changed your mind as the result of a conversation.
- Please describe your plan for a summer practicum experience (at least 20 hours/week of work or service in a health-related setting in summer 2024 – see call for application for details).
- In 250 words or less, describe how engaging the medical humanities, arts, ethics, and history through ReMed will make a difference in your summer health-related work or service, and/or in your future career in health care. Be as specific as possible.
- Please provide contact information for one faculty/staff reference: full name, title, email address, work phone, and how you know each other.
- Please upload your resume (PDF, two-page limit).
- All Fellows will be offered accommodation at The Lodge Hotel near the Duke University Hospital Campus during the ReMed immersive week, 5/12/24-5/17/24. Please note your lodging intention below. (This is for reservation estimates only, and can be amended later should your application be accepted).
- I intend to stay at The Lodge Hotel
- I intend to arrange my own accommodations
- By submitting an application, you are indicating your intention, if selected, to participate fully in all aspects of the Fellowship including the summer experiential week in May 12-17, 2024. You agree to participate in the immersive week and all virtual weekly meetings. Do you know of any conflicts with your participation, as described? (Please note if you plan to take Summer Term 1 courses).
Priority Deadline
January 31, 2024
Questions?
Contact Program Coordinator Victoria Yunez Behm at victoria.behm@duke.edu or Faculty Director Warren Kinghorn at warren.kinghorn@duke.edu
ReMed is a program of The Purpose Project at Duke, the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and the Trent Center for Bioethics, Medical Humanities, and the History of Medicine. It is sponsored by a grant from The Duke Endowment.