JeffSTARS Program

Become a Voice for Children

Jefferson Service Training in Advocacy for Residents and Students

JeffSTARS is an advocacy educational program integrated into resident and student training in collaboration with Jefferson Medical College (JMC) and the Department of Family and Community Medicine (FCM) of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU).

JeffSTARS is dedicated to teaching health advocacy to residents in the Pediatric Residency Program of TJU and Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, residents in the FCM Resident Training Program at TJU, and medical students at JMC.

Advocacy components of the program, incorporated into a required outpatient rotation include:

• Community Site Visits
• Advocacy Journal Clubs
• Advocacy Cafes

The JeffSTARS program also includes a longitudinal component. As part of the resident Continuity Clinics, case-based presentations focus on local and national resources available to help families.

Advocacy and Community Partnership Elective

In this elective, fourth-year medical students and second- and third-year residents spend 50% of their time working with a community organization on a mutually agreeable project, 30% of their time in clinical care, and 20% in a seminar series that teaches practical skills in advocacy, such as preparing a fact sheet and meeting with legislators.

Learning How to Help Improve the Lives of Children

In today’s health care landscape, it's vital for medical professionals to understand the roles that social determinants such as income, housing, and education play in the lives of their patients, especially children.

Through hands-on experience and learning, the JeffSTARS program can help trainees communicate more effectively with children and families, and take action to speak up for children's health in the community, the media, and the legislature.

Led by Dr. Esther K. Chung, Director of Advocacy and Community Partnerships for the residency program, JeffSTARS is funded by two grants – a 16-month grant from Community Pediatrics Training Initiative (CPTI) and Community Access to Child Health (CATCH), of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and  a three-year grant from the Institute on Medicine as a Profession at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.