As health care continues to evolve, training the next generation of healthcare leaders is more important than ever. However, many university undergraduate students are not directly exposed to topics such as health policy and management within their coursework or co-curricular engagements. At Duke University, we developed the Student Collaborative on Health Policy (SCOHP) as an inter-disciplinary health policy hub that offers opportunities for learning, engagement, and leadership in the healthcare-related fields for students of all academic backgrounds. We see opportunity for similar student-led groups to be established by student leaders at other institutions, increasing interaction with experts, mentorship and the accessibility of experiential education, service, and leadership in the health care sector. (Thomas et. al., 2022)
Mission
To expose students to opportunities in health policy through service, career development, and education.
History
SCOHP is a student organization stemming from the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy’s Student Advisory Council.
Structure
Our organization is led by two presidents, each of whom serve two-year terms. One president serves their second year during the other’s first year. For the first four years of the organization, we had four subcommittees which developed their own activities in service of the organization’s larger goal – advancing knowledge of and contributions to public health. Those committees were Service & Advocacy, Health Policy Education, Career & Professional Development, and Campus Engagement. Our original structure was described in an article published in Frontiers of Public Health.
In October 2022, the executive board began discussing potential changes to the organization to increase engagement and allow the flexibility to develop new initiatives. In spring 2023, SCOHP announced the formation of the Duke-facing committee, which would focus on engaging students, faculty, and employees, and the community-facing committee, which would continue external activities. Several initiatives – namely the Health Policy Passport, Health Policy Week, and Case Competition – were spun out into separate committees with their own leaders.
This page was last updated April 22, 2023
