"Idiomatic" Evening Offers Earful of Information

Einstein's Bronx locale is home to a multitude of cultures from around the world. As a result, students often encounter individuals who speak only their native tongue or who have perspectives on healthcare that derive from differing cultural traditions. To help these individuals address their myriad healthcare needs, there are physicians and researchers – many of whom are members of the Einstein faculty – who conduct their practices in other languages and whose research focuses on cultural influences.

On Wednesday, May 8, 2013, supported by Einstein's Global Health Center (GHC), the Global Health Club and the medical school's chapter of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association hosted its first Multicultural Physician Event, to expose students to multilingual faculty members, who shared their experiences working with multicultural patients or study participants in the United States and abroad.

Approximately 50 enthusiastic students turned out to learn from the nine physicians and researchers who took part in the event. The faculty members represented a variety of languages ? including those more commonly spoken by immigrant patient populations, such as Spanish and Chinese ? and a broad range of cultures, stemming from countries that included Guatemala, Haiti, Argentina, Kenya, Tanzania, Switzerland, India and China.

At the conclusion of the event, which was held in the Price Center/Block Research Pavilion, students had the opportunity to network with the faculty members about their various specialties and their experiences working in different parts of the world.

"We believe experiences like this are as invaluable as those our students have abroad," said Jill Raufman, program manager of the GHC. It offers an opportunity for them to experience global health in our own backyard."