We believe students must be active leaders in the Ecosystem, starting with identifying their own needs. In order to compile these needs, we conducted a needs assessment, for URM pre-health students in WA state. Prior to constructing this survey, we piloted questions and topics within small focus groups called “listening sessions”. These listening sessions were an hour long held in 2-3 person groups. We prompted students with questions about their current experience as a pre-health student which led to discussions about various issues or concerns they had in their pre-health specific educational and professional development.
The listening sessions cultivated rich discussion and comradery between peers at different stages in their education and helped validate some of the disparities historically overrepresented in URM communities. The following key themes were identified: students did not feel they had adequate access to the following; mentorship, clinical exposure, education-specific advising, BIPOC pre-health communities/networks, time-management skills and interviewing skills.
Initial listening sessions were conducted by Nikki Torres, while later ones were led by R.J. Dumo (see community organizing).