Social Mission Metrics Initiative Announcement

Authors

Sonal Batra MD, MST, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at the George Washington University.
Fitzhugh Mullan, MD, is a Professor of Health Policy in the Milken Institute School of Public Health and a Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the George Washington University. He is also the Co-Director of the George Washington University Health Workforce Institute.
Julie Orban, MPH, is a Research Scientist in the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the The George Washington University.

Social mission is a potent idea that has been present in health professions education under various labels for many years. Humanitarianism, community-oriented primary care, social responsibility, social justice, diversity, and inclusion are some of the ideas that have generated transformative movements in health care delivery and health professions education. Today the term social mission is increasingly used to embody them all. The Beyond Flexner Alliance has defined the social mission of a health professions school as the contribution of a school in its mission, programs, and the performance of its graduates, faculty, and leadership in advancing health equity and addressing the health disparities of the society in which it exists. A new Initiative from the GW Health Workforce Institute strives to deepen the conversation around social mission by providing a means to measure this important concept within health professions schools.

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