Diversity Sub-Internship Scholarship Award in General Surgery

The Department of Surgery at the University of Southern California has recognized the growing need for its residency program to be a direct representation of the patient population it serves. To this end, the Department, in combination with the Keck Medicine of USC Community Benefit and Outreach Program, have created the Diversity Sub-Internship Scholarship Award aimed at attracting under-represented minority students to our institution. This award will be targeted at medical students from diverse backgrounds with goals of producing an outstanding sub-internship experience, facilitating community volunteering, providing strong mentorship opportunities, and increasing exposure to our faculty and residents.

The Sub-Internship Scholarship Award is built to be an all-inclusive experience. Each award winner will receive a stipend to cover housing ($1,750). In addition, each visiting award winner will be assigned a resident and faculty mentor for their rotation. Meetings with their resident mentor will occur weekly to provide general strategies for a successful sub-internship and will include outings to local community volunteer opportunities to experience the needs of the community firsthand. The award winner will also meet with their faculty mentor at the two and four-week mark to discuss their interest in USC and to obtain a letter of recommendation. In addition, all award winners, along with their mentors, will be invited to dinners at the homes of the program directors with the goal of providing direct surgical mentorship by leaders in their respective fields.

To qualify for this opportunity, each applicant must complete the following:

• Must be applying to a GENERAL SURGERY PROGRAM
• Apply for a surgical sub-internship at USC through the VSLO platform, specifying an area of interest in general surgery for the months of August and September.
• Send a medical school transcript, CV, and a Dean’s letter stating financial qualification for the award.
• Complete a 300-word personal statement describing interest in the award.

Mayte Villanueva at Mayte.Villanueva@med.usc.edu by April 1, 2024.