Founded in 2011, SocMed, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, advocates for and implements curricula founded on the study of social medicine. The field of social medicine recognizes the critical importance that the social determinants of health play in health outcomes. Such determinants include socioeconomic status, educational opportunities, transportation accessibility, exposure to crime, and discrimination based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. By engaging health professionals though careful examination of the social and economic contexts of health and immersing them in partnership with a diverse group of colleagues from around the world, we aim to foster innovative leaders who are ready to tackle challenging health problems in communities around the world.

Three values guide SocMed’s work, which we refer to as the three P’s. These values are central to our community-building efforts:

• Praxis – inspired by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, we believe that constant interplay between reflection and action generates critical analysis of the world and deepens our ability to effectively respond;
• Personal – who we are and where we come from matters deeply in health delivery. Critical self-awareness enhances our ability to undo harmful structural and societal factors of which we are all part;
• Partnership – community-building amongst individuals with varied demographic backgrounds offers the most innovative and just means of moving towards health equity for all.

In 2013, SocMed plans to:

• Run our annual course in Northern Uganda for thirty future leaders in health care from Uganda, Germany, the U.S., Lebanon, Burundi, and Zimbabwe;
• Expand to a second site in Haiti in collaboration with Physicians for Haiti (http://physiciansforhaiti.org/);
• Establish a scholarship fund for students from resource-poor settings who otherwise could not attend the course;
• Begin construction on our planned Center for the Study of Social Medicine in Northern Uganda to create a permanent, concentrated space for study, research, and advocacy related to social medicine;
• And financially support the Oryema Fellowship in Social Medicine, a part-time position to maximize the potential of SocMed.

SocMed is working to build a movement of health professionals committed to the practice of social medicine and the pursuit of justice in health care deilvery. We invite you to join us as we change education for health professionals to better the health of communities throughout the world.