• Danielle E Brown, Angela Malinovitch, Hannah Posner, Deepak Indrakanti, Medha Sharma, Michael Karamardian, and C Jessica Dine.
• Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. danielle.brown@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Jul 29.

BackgroundUnderstanding health equity is critical for the development of patient-centered physicians, but few avenues exist for medical students to participate in experiential learning related to social determinants of health (SDOH).AimTo create and evaluate the PennHealthX SDOH Accelerator Program, which pairs students with health equity startups.SettingThe program matches medical students at our institution with startups focused on SDOH for voluntary, part-time internships.ParticipantsMedical students of all years are eligible to apply. Startups are typically early-stage (≤ 10 employees).Program DescriptionTwo pre-clinical students lead the program. Startups are sourced via alumni networking, partnerships with venture capital firms, and cold outreach. Startups and students apply and are matched based on project goals and student backgrounds/skills. Upon completion, feedback is gathered through open-ended interviews with all students.Program EvaluationTwenty medical students were matched with 11 startups. In post-program interviews, students expressed high satisfaction. Students specifically valued the opportunity to learn about SDOH in a hands-on and solution-oriented way.DiscussionThis program gives students the opportunity to impact their communities and learn about addressing SDOH with innovative solutions. We are continuing to build the program at our institution and expand its impact to other medical schools.© 2024. The Author(s).

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