Academic Programs

Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the world.

To address the need for more Spanish speaking healthcare providers at Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Stritch students developed the Spanish Bilingual Medical Student Certification. The program's goals: increase patient safety and meet the federal mandate to assure the competence of language assistance provided at all levels of care by evaluating students before they begin caring for patients during third year clerkships. A secondary benefit of the Certification is that it fulfills the Liaison Committee on Medical Education’s Educational Directives 19-22, which require medical schools to provide students with communication skills, teach them to address medical consequences of social issues, and provide students with the skills to provide culturally competent care.

CANDIDATES

Students are invited to participate in the Certification process during the summer between their second and third years of school. They are eligible for Certification until graduation. All students who intend to speak Spanish while caring for patients during their clerkships are encouraged to complete the Certification exams regardless of if they are native Spanish-speakers, learned medical Spanish through Loyola’s Peer-Led Medical Spanish Program, or learned it through another program. While there is not a formal prerequisite or screening process required before participating, students receive a description of the Certification exams and are advised that they should participate in the Certification only if they feel comfortable completing a patient history and physical exam in Spanish.

Illinois needs more Polish-speaking health care workers. Help address this shortage, while earning credit, and enroll in Stritch's Medical Polish program. You will learn Polish and develop the cultural competencies to work with people of Polish descent.

The Community and Global Health (CGH) Honors Program provides a four-year, curricular foundation for service learning at the Stritch School of Medicine. For students who plan to incorporate global health into their career, the program supports field experience and scholarly investigation. The CGH Honors Program builds on the success of Stritch's Ignatian Service Immersion Program and an expansion of public health programming on the Health Sciences Campus through the Parkinson School for Health Science and Public Health.

Drawing on its Jesuit, Catholic heritage, Stritch programs help develop a student's character and intellect, and helps each student "care for the whole student," including their self. Many students pursue a self-directed curriculum related to Bioethics, Health Policy, service to people or communities that are underserved, leadership, and professionalism. The Bioethics and Professionalism Honors Program asks the student to go one step further to document systematically and reflect upon this self-directed curriculum. Students who complete this program receive departmental honors from the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Healthcare Leadership.

The Stritch Research Honors Program recognizes those students who have completed a structured research curriculum and celebrates their research achievements. MD degree candidates who complete a program of advanced education and experience in research will be recognized with an MD and completion of the Research Honors Program.

Thinking of applying to medical school, but not sure where to start? ASPIRE is an intensive, month-long program in June to prepare you for the medical school application process and help you strengthen your application, expose you to health disparities, and introduce you to the Maywood community.