CHSU Student Organizations Host Primary Care Week

California Health Sciences University hosted its annual National Primary Care Week from Oct. 5–9, bringing together students, physicians and community leaders to explore the range of career paths and opportunities in primary care. The week highlighted primary care’s essential role in medicine and encouraged collaboration across specialties.

CHSU students took part in activities throughout the week, including daily Instagram takeovers featuring third- and fourth-year medical students on clinical rotations and offering a glimpse into their training.

Other activities included care packages for students during study week, Medical Jeopardy, a family medicine panel with Michele Greenhouse, MD, a career in pediatrics panel with Drs. Inouye and Ozaki, a session on incorporating obstetric care into practice, and assembling Halloween goodie bags for patients at Valley Children’s Hospital.

One student organizer reflected on the effort behind the events: “What stood out to me most was seeing how much work went on behind the scenes to make these events possible. Everyone in our club contributed something, and I really appreciated how people made time outside of their already busy schedules to help out. Seeing everything we had planned finally happen, and watching other students enjoy the events, made all the effort worth it. It was really special to be part of something that we all genuinely cared about.”

The week concluded with a panel dinner where students heard directly from local physicians about their career paths, clinical experiences, challenges and perspectives on the future of primary care.

A second year student reflected, “You could tell how passionate they were just by the way they talked about their work. As someone who is still figuring out what specialty I want to pursue, I found that reassuring. It gave me, and hopefully other medical students, a better picture of what our future careers could look like.”

A special thank you to our panelists:

• Archana Bangalore, MD – Family Medicine, Valley Health Team
• Janae Barker, DO, FAAP – Pediatrics, Adventist Health
• Rajinder Dhesi, DO – Family Medicine and third-year chief resident, Saint Agnes Health
• Sakshi Joshi, MD – Family Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center
• Zade Kurdieh, DO – Internal Medicine, Sierra View Medical Center; CHSU alumnus
• Kreg Love, DO – Family Medicine, CHSU
• Jusel Ruelan, DO – Family Medicine, Saint Agnes Health

Primary Care Week was organized by CHSU-COM student interest groups, including the Internal Medicine Interest Group (IMIG), Student Association of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (SAACOFP), Pediatric Interest Group and Obstetrics and Gynecology Interest Group (OB/GYN).These groups helped plan and coordinate the week’s activities.

Primary Care Week would not have been possible without contributions from the American Medical Association (AMA), Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA), American College of Physicians (ACP) and Lazy Dog Restaurant Bar & Grill. CHSU thanks them for helping to supporting this year’s event.