Refugee Health Partnership Health Navigation Practicum

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Overview

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Refugee Health Partners student group is focused on education, community outreach, and clinic work with refugees and asylum seekers. Internal to the School of Medicine, they teach a course on refugee health and host regular workshops related to working with the forced migrant community. Through their work, they hope to both meaningfully engage with forced migrants in the Baltimore area as well as equip medical students with the skills required to provide high-quality care to this patient population in their careers. 

Collaboration with Asylee Women Enterprise

RHP maintains a partnership with HEAL partner Asylee Women Enterprise (AWE), the Refugee Health Partnership Health Navigation Practicum, in which teams of medical students serve as patient navigators for AWE clients. Small groups of medical students are linked with some of AWE’s most medically vulnerable clients to assist them with navigating medical and other systems to receive the best and most integrated care possible.

Through the RHP practicum, 30 students are currently participating and are engaged in providing critical health navigation and advocacy to clients at Asylee Women Enterprise, including asylum seekers and survivors of trafficking.

RHP leaders recently presented their innovative model at the PHR (Physicians for Human Rights) conference in April 2023.