Advocacy and Child Health Scholarly Concentration

Mission:

The Advocacy and Child Health concentration empowers medical students to discover and develop their potential as pediatric advocates. Through mentor-guided, experiential learning, students explore the diverse facets of the advocacy world. Graduates emerge as skilled, adaptable, and passionate champions for children’s unique health needs.

Directors:

Wan-Hsuan Chen, DO & Zoabe Hafeez, MD MPH

Maximum number of students/year: 12

Student selection process: Students are introduced scholarly concentrations in the fall of their first year of medical school. The concentration application process begins in January with a reflective essay on an experience or observation related to child health. The concentration committee will review the essays, and selected students may be asked to interview. The deadline of the application is February 28^th. Students accepted into the concentration will be notified by March of their first year.

Timeline for student completion of concentration requirements:  3½ years

Notes: Students must remain in good standing throughout the four years of medical school to continue in the concentration. If a student is not in good standing per Student Affairs, they will be dropped from the concentration program.

Special recognition in the MSPE, the transcript, and/or in the graduation program is dependent on completion of all requirements. Failing to complete one or more requirements of the concentration will result in no special distinction being provided.

Contact:
Wan Hsuan ‘Sherly’ Chen, DO
[email protected]

Zoabe Hafeez, MD
[email protected]

Updated as of 2/10/2026

Concentration requirements (didactic and experiential):

• Develop an advocacy project with a faculty mentor. This project is the key part of your rotation. You will develop skills in project planning, development, implementation, analysis, and publication.  The co-directors will work with you to identify a key mentor to guide this project after careful consideration of student interests.
• Develop, organize and implement your advocacy project with guidance from a mentor.
• Present your advocacy project at a local, regional, or national meeting.
• Submit your advocacy project for publication, if possible.
• Participation in the Pediatric Student Association, American Academy of Pediatrics or other local child health organization such as Texas Pediatric Society.
• Membership in the student section of a state or national organization focused on child health such as the American Academy of Pediatric Section of Physician Trainees, which is free to join or the Texas Pediatric Society Medical Student Section, which is $15 dollars a year as of 2026.
• Total of 15 hours of shadowing pediatric focused providers such as general pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, pediatric therapists, or other related staff). Please report the name of the provider and number of hours shadowed.
• Attend all pediatric grand rounds while on the pediatric MS3 clerkship, which is already a clerkship requirement, and four additional grand rounds to be streamed on a child health topic of your choice. In place of 4 additional grand rounds, you may attend an additional 4 hours of community-based meetings on child health topics. For example, you may watch a webinar on pediatric food insecurity. Please submit a list of the 4 additional topics observed.
• Read required articles on Canvas. New articles will be periodically updated.
• Draft a letter to the legislator on your advocacy topic and send the letter to co-directors for review. It is acceptable to build upon the letter you will draft as part of your second year Persuasive Writing Workshop in your small group ethics rotation.
• Draft a letter to the editor on your advocacy topic and send it to co-directors for review. It is acceptable to build upon the topic you may draft as part of your second year Persuasive Writing Workshop in your small group ethics rotation.  If you desire to publish your topic, please contact the co-directors for guidance.
• Complete a reflective essay on an encounter with a pediatric patient (1 page) to highlight what you have learned from your patient.

Advocacy projects

Students will be matched with faculty mentors whose expertise aligns with their interests. Projects may include, but are not limited to, clinical research, data analysis, policy brief development, patient screening initiatives, public health education campaigns, and other efforts within population health, public policy, and advocacy.

Projects are developed collaboratively by the student and faculty mentor. Advocacy is driven by passion; therefore, students are encouraged to select topics that are meaningful to them and have potential for real world impact and scholarly dissemination.

All senior students in the concentration are strongly encouraged to present their work at the McGovern Medical School Senior Spring Symposium. Students are also encouraged to submit abstracts or posters to local, state, or national professional meetings, with mentor guidance.

Resources

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Student Section
https://www.aap.org/en/career-resources/medical-students/medical-student-membership/ (external link)

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Student Resources
https://www.aap.org/en/career-resources/medical-students/ (external link)

The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Medical_Students_and_Residents/Medical_Students/Home.aspx?hkey=c280dd86-6e53-41ae-8779-6d84b98fda7e (external link)

Texas Pediatric Society (TPS) Medical Student Section
https://tps.imiscloud.com/tps/Web/About-TPS/Medical-Student-Section.aspx (external link)

Faculty Mentors

Note: If students have specific research interests, they will be matched to appropriate faculty in the department; this list is not exclusive.