Health Mentors Program: Goes to Brazil!

Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health in Salvador, Brazil is building a Health Mentors program based on UBC’s model.

Following a trip to UBC last year, Dr. Maria Antonieta Nascimento Araújo is set to begin a pilot Health Mentors program at Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health.

The pilot will begin in March with 20 students and 5 mentors. The groups will include students from medicine, nursing, physical therapy, and psychology. The mentors are recruited from a peer support program at a local multidisciplinary clinic specializing in treating patients with Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV). If successful, the program coordinators have plans to expand the program to include patients living with conditions including epilepsy, rare disease, and mental health.

The PCPE and Bahiana teams have met regularly in recent months to share program materials to plan and design the pilot. A collaborative research project is in the works to explore ways to include and support marginalized patient groups in health professional education. Stay tuned!