Community Collaborations
Medical schools and teaching hospitals are working for the health of all by collaborating with communities across clinical, research, and educational missions.
This type of partnership means sharing expertise, resources, and responsibility with communities for achieving shared goals. Through interactions built on trust, mutual respect, cultural sensitivity, shared governance, and mutual benefit, medical schools and teaching hospitals work with communities on activities that include community-based service learning, community-engaged research, and community-driven health services delivery.
The AAMC is committed to supporting its member institutions in building partnerships and demonstrating trustworthiness as anchor institutions in their communities.
AAMC Center for Health Justice
The AAMC Center for Health Justice sparks community-centered, multisector research, collaboration, and action to make the case for policies and practices that ensure all communities have an equal opportunity to thrive.
What's New in Community Collaborations
Advocacy Toolkit for Physicians in Training
This new toolkit is designed to assist Washington, D.C., health-professions learners in leveraging their roles to drive positive social change as they advocate with and for their patients and communities. Although this toolkit was designed for learners in the District of Columbia, the principles can be applied in other regions nationally.
Community Engagement and Collaboration Resource Bundle
The AAMC has curated this collection of resources, articles, and toolkits focusing on the significance of long-lasting community partnerships in achieving a more equal-opportunity future. Registration in AAMC Communities is required.
Community Engagement Toolkits | Center For Health Justice
These toolkits help communities engage in dialogue to identify actions people or institutions can take to advance health and health care equity.
The Principles of Trustworthiness | Center For Health Justice
These 10 Principles of Trustworthiness integrate local perspectives with established precepts of community engagement to guide health care, public health, and other organizations as they work to demonstrate they are worthy of trust.
Community Engagement at the AAMC: Highlights From 2023
The AAMC is committed to having a greater social impact in Washington, D.C., through its philanthropic efforts, employee volunteerism, and innovative programming. Through partnerships with community organizations, we advance educational opportunities, promote health access, and respond to our neighbors’ needs.
The AAMC Community Grants Program: 15 Years of Impact
The AAMC aims to live up to our mission and values through ongoing community engagement and collaboration. The Community Grants Program, a valuable opportunity for employee learning and engagement, is an asset to the local community. Here are 15 testimonials that speak to the impact of the program over the past 15 years.
The Community Impact Tracker | Center For Health Justice
Built over 10 years with academic medical centers and their community partners, the Community Impact Tracker (CIT) is a free coordination tool for AAMC members to help break down silos, build trust with the community, and quantify the scope of community engagement activities for advocacy, fundraising, and reporting.
Testimony and Correspondence
This includes congressional testimony, letters to Capitol Hill and federal agencies, and comment letters on policy issues.
- AAMC Center for Health Justice Comments on NIH Minority Health and Health Disparities Strategic Plan PDF
- AAMC Responds to NIH Strategic Plan for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research
- AAMC Submits Letter to White House on Community Engagement
- AAMC Submits Comments to the White House and NIH on Environmental Justice
- AAMC Submits Letter to FDA on Race and Ethnicity in Clinical Trials
Publications
Publications produced by AAMC staff members about community engagement and collaboration.
- Shifting Academic Health Centers from a Culture of Community Service to Community Engagement and Integration
- Equitable Pandemic Preparedness and Rapid Response: Lessons from COVID-19 for Pandemic Health Equity
- Engaging with Communities — Lessons (Re)Learned From COVID-19
- Communities, Social Justice, and Academic Health Centers
- Health Equity in Academic Medicine: Recommendations From an AAMC Community Roundtable in Washington, D.C.
- From the national to the local: Issues of trust and a model for community-academic-engagement
Professional Development Resources
Apply for an Award
Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement Recipients
The Spencer Foreman Award honors institutions and their community partners that engage in bidirectional collaboration and shared leadership in service of advancing the health and vitality of the community, its residents, and the academic institution. Learn more about past recipients.
“Medical schools and teaching hospitals must become the best partners they can be in the multisector collaborations necessary to achieve health justice.”
Philip Alberti, PhD, founding director, AAMC Center for Health Justice