The Brown Human Rights Asylum Clinic (BHRAC) is a medical student-run human rights clinic dedicated to providing forensic medical evaluations to survivors of persecution who seek asylum in the US. The written medical testimony that physician evaluators submit to courts on behalf of asylum seekers is frequently the determining factor when judges grant asylum or other relief from deportation for survivors of torture, domestic abuse, trafficking, and other forms of persecution who present with physical and psychological sequelae of abuse. Through a partnership with Physicians for Human Rights, BHRAC is committed to helping victims of torture and abuse gain the support they need to receive refuge in the US. Betsy Toll, retired MP Core Faculty, serves as the faculty director for BHRAC. Multiple residents and faculty serve as BHRAC physician evaluators, including Justin Berk, MP Core Faculty; Matt Lorenz, MP Core Faculty; and Margret Chang, MP Class of 2014. 

The Correctional Health Elective, founded by Ann Ding, MP Class of 2022, gives residents the opportunity to gain experience in caring for prisoners and former prisoners. The goal of the elective is to inform residents’ future careers in working with the prison population. Many residents might otherwise never have the opportunity to work with this especially marginalized population. Even if residents choose not to work in correctional healthcare as a career, working in correctional spaces will guide residents in caring for these patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Med-Peds residents have the option of individualizing their schedule based on their interests and career goals, and have the option of working in prison intake clinics, minimum / medium / maximum security prisons, the women’s prison clinic, and the Rhode Island Training School (juvenile corrective services). Residents also have the option of working in the Transitions Clinic, a weekly clinic dedicated to providing primary care for recently released prisoners, which is staffed by Justin Berk, MP Core Faculty, and Catherine Trimbur, IM Faculty.

Teachfitclub.org is a non-profit organization that works to integrate a core curriculum on healthy eating and living in schools. Young Doctors Club represents one component of the curriculum and is an extension of Kristin Anderson’s, MP Core Faculty, advocacy work. Dr. Anderson serves as the co-executive director of F.I.T. Club and engages residents to contribute on curriculum and outreach.

F.I.T. Club is committed to creating collaborative curricula embedding concepts of food, fitness and farming into the classroom. Its focus on literacy to teach concepts of nutrition and physical health connects students with high quality fiction and nonfiction books. Lesson plans utilize Common Core Standards and can be taught during or after school. F.I.T. Club is applicable to any school setting and to anyone who eats!

A refugee primary care clinic is held in the Medicine-Pediatrics Primary Care Center two times per month. Founded by Elizabeth Toll, retired MP Core Faculty, and building on the successful model of the Hasbro Pediatric Refugee Program, the refugee clinic provides intake services for newly resettled refugees and facilitates their integration into the resident clinic for ongoing primary care. Supervised by Matt Lorenz, MP Core Faculty, the clinic is also staffed by residents and medical students and works closely with the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island to provide comprehensive care to this diverse population.

Many Med-Peds residents and faculty volunteer at the Rhode Island Free Clinic, a collaboration between Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and a community health foundation to ensure access to medical care for uninsured or indigent individuals. Sybil Cineas, MP Core Faculty, serves as a member of the Rhode Island Free Clinic medical advisory board.