Students from the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine completed their final presentations in front of Case Western Reserve University medical students and family.
The catalyst for the development of the Cisco Connected Health Program was a Cisco grant awarded in the spring of 2013. Cisco’s mission was to use TelePresence technology (video conferencing) to link high school students in Ohio directly to medical professionals, thereby significantly broadening healthcare educational outreach and presence. Beginning in the summer of 2013, this curriculum, modeled after Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine’s inquiry (IQ) group learning, was created and adapted to best achieve this goal. It emphasizes the importance of social determinants of health and their relation to the management and prevention of chronic disease. The end goal of the program is to increase awareness of chronic disease in inner city schools and to instill in adolescents positive health behaviors that they can then carry home and teach to their families. Furthermore, we aim to build a pipeline of next-generation healthcare professionals by exposing and encouraging high school youth to pursue healthcare careers practiced in their home communities.