The Office of Community Engagement is responsible for facilitating and coordinating collaborative scholarly engagement within the School of Medicine. In order to best meet our health care challenges, we are actively partnering with our rural, urban, and medically underserved communities to understand unique circumstances and needs, so that the School of Medicine will provide state of the art health care and training of medical practitioners and researchers that are ready and able to serve the people of Kentucky and beyond.  The School of Medicine recognizes the unique contribution that individuals with diverse backgrounds, cultures, experiences, and identities bring to the institution and seeks to create an environment that is inclusive, welcoming, and supportive of all people.

The School of Medicine Office of Community Engagement works closely with the HSC Office of Health Equity and Engagement and with leadership in the Schools of Nursing, Dentistry, and Public Health and Information Sciences, as well as with the university-wide Office of Community Engagement.

Mission:

Community engagement represent essential components of the vision for the University of Louisville School of Medicine and play strategic roles in achieving our mission of improving the health of our patients and our diverse communities. The School of Medicine has a fundamental role and responsibility to improve the health of the community (broadly defined) and transform the delivery of healthcare that is complementary to and integrated with the school’s other strategic pillars: Education, Clinical Services, and Research. The goal of the Office of Community Engagement is to promote and support existing community partnerships and initiatives and to engage new partners to contribute to health and wellness of the community -- locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. The Office will further advance the School of Medicine and University-wide community engagement priorities of the strategic plan.

The Office serves as a focal point for connecting identified community needs with the strengths, competencies and strategic objectives of the School of Medicine. In addition to the direct ways that the School contributes to improving health and healthcare delivery, the Office recognizes that effective efforts to improve community health and transform healthcare delivery require collaborative, multidisciplinary, multifaceted approaches. This need for multidisciplinary, multifaceted approaches presents an opportunity for the Office to serve as a platform to engage a broad range of collaborative partnerships across multiple disciplines both within the University and throughout our community.

The Office promotes a vision for the School of Medicine that supports an excellent educational and work environment where mutual respect, cultural awareness, and a commitment to continuous learning are fundamental. Our efforts focus on preparing future health professionals to understand and effectively serve varied communities, ultimately working to improve health outcomes and address disparities across populations. The University of Louisville's School of Medicine Plan emphasizes welcoming individuals from all backgrounds to a center of learning that values a broad range of perspectives, experiences, and ideas.