TRUST Program Outline
Required Activities for TRUST Scholars
1. Attend and participate in the four Learning Retreats held throughout the academic
year. Retreats are held in person at alternating locations between Syracuse and 91社区.
Attendance is expected at all and retreats will rotate to ensure equity.
Attendance at the learning retreats is required. TRUST Scholars who must miss a learning retreat (e.g., due to illness) should contact their faculty members as soon as they are able to schedule a make-up session. Note that the make-up learning retreat will not provide the same experience as we cannot recreate the full interprofessional atmosphere or ask the guest speakers (clinicians and community members) to come back for the make-up retreat.
Learning Retreat Topics and Schedule
Year 1
- Trust Welcome Event
- Time/Location TBD
- Deaf Health Retreat
- 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 18, 2026, Syracuse, New York
- Reproductive Justice Retreat
- 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 15, 2026, 91社区, New York
- LGBTQ+ Health Retreat
- 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Jan. 31, 2027, Syracuse, New York
- Veterans Health Retreat
- 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 28, 2027, 91社区, New York
Year 2 (may adapt as the curriculum progresses)
- Four learning retreats will be held in the second year of the program (retreat topics, dates and times TBD)
- TRUST End of the Year Celebration (date and time TBD)
Each learning retreat will be four hours in duration and begin with a guest and/or faculty speaker. After the speaker session, the interprofessional cohort will be assigned a clinical case with questions designed to facilitate interprofessional work. After the case, all students will learn a clinical skill that may be later applied to their experiential education.
2. Participate in at least five community outreach activities sponsored by the Rural and Underserved Service Track per year (see below)
Outreach activities must be attended throughout a student's involvement in TRUST.
Students must participate in at least two activities per semester. The minimum two
clinical activities must be completed by the end of the last day of class.
Students are not allowed to miss classes, switch lab or discussion sections, or come late or leave early in order to participate in a community outreach activity. The only exceptions to this rule are the TRUST learning retreats as those are a required component of TRUST and occur at set times twice a semester.
Alignment with Area Health Education Centers (AHEC)
The goal of this program is to align with the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Scholars program for recognition and future sources of funding.
AHEC Scholars is a program for health professions students interested in supplementing their education by gaining additional knowledge and experience in rural and/or underserved urban settings. This is a longitudinal program with interdisciplinary requirements to implement a defined set of clinical, didactic and community-based activities. All experiential or clinical training will be conducted in rural and/or underserved urban settings.
Program duration is two years and each year includes the following for a total of 160 hours:
- 40 hours community-based, experiential or clinical training in rural and/or underserved area
- 40 hours didactic education (focused on six Core Topic Areas), with learning retreats accounting for 16 hours/yearInterprofessional education
- Behavioral health integration
- Social determinants of health
- Cultural competency
- Practice transformation
- Current and emerging health issues