LIVE Bluebook Course
Course Overview
Social disconnection, including social isolation and loneliness, is a major public health concern for older adults, with far-reaching effects on cognitive, physical, and mental health, as well as mortality.
The LIVE Bluebook elective, led by Dr. Jason Burnett and offered through the Joan and Stanford Alexander Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine, provides medical students with an innovative, relationship-based approach to learning about aging and social disconnection.
Rather than learning about these issues primarily through lectures, students learn through direct, one-on-one engagement with an older adult over the course of nine months. This sustained relationship brings concepts from the classroom into real life, giving students the opportunity to understand aging through the experiences, perspectives, and stories of an older adult.
By replacing lecture-style instruction with sustained, hands-on learning, LIVE Bluebook allows future physicians to experience firsthand the importance of social connection while developing a deeper and more personal understanding of aging. The result is an educational experience that goes beyond learning about older adults to learning with and from them.
In LIVE, students are paired with socially disconnected older adults for weekly phone calls that go beyond small talk. Through these intimate conversations, students hear about daily life, struggles, and joys, and they may experience difficult conversations about topics that often carry stigma. Along the way, they build empathy-based communication and psychosocial assessment skills, supported by guided reflection and feedback sessions that help them understand the programs impact on their life and the life of the older adult.
Why This Course Is Unique
- Learn social medicine in a hand-on, interpersonal, human way, not just in a classroom.
- Gain confidence talking with older adults about challenging topics and real-world problems.
- See how “little” conversations, 30 to 60 minutes can change someone’s sense of being seen, heard, and valued and mattering.
- Help bridge the gap between medical knowledge and the lived experience of aging in the community.
What You’ll Gain
- Stronger skills in listening, empathy, and difficult conversations
- A deeper understanding of how social disconnection affects health
- Insight into the social factors that shape older adults’ functioning and well being
Program Details
Start Date: August 2026
Course Format: Weekly social phone calls plus structured reflection/feedback sessions
Eligibility: Open to medical students at UTHealth Houston
Interested in joining LIVE?
Email [email protected] with your name and class year, and our team will follow up with enrollment details.