This year, BIC's non-profit capstone is proud to partner with The CUNY School of Medicine (CSOM) to help increase exposure to the outstanding work they do as a medical school to increase quality healthcare for underserved communities and impact healthcare disparities. In particular, over the next 15 weeks, the BIC Class of 2022 will work on integrated marketing communications campaigns to highlight the school’s efforts. 

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Previously the Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program, the CUNY School of Medicine has a 48-year history of recruiting talented high school students from underrepresented backgrounds to become physicians in primary care specialties in medically underserved communities. Fi­fty-three percent of the student population of CUNY School of Medicine are members of underrepresented minorities. African-American students comprise 35 percent and Hispanic students are 18 percent of the student body. 

CSOM’s mission is to produce broadly-educated, highly-skilled medical practitioners to provide quality health services to communities historically underserved by primary care practitioners. 

So what is their challenge and where does BIC come in? While the CUNY School of Medicine is doing groundbreaking work to change the face of healthcare and achieve health equity, the medical school has a lack of broad public recognition. They believe their mission and accomplishments are exciting to those who care about health equity and diversifying the healthcare workforce but again they have been unable to get the recognition they deserve. This is where the BIC Class of 2022 comes in. To accomplish these goals, each capstone team will conduct secondary and primary research utilizing both client and independent resources, create/clarify a strategic, mission-based message and develop an integrated marketing communications campaign (IMCC) to amplify its mission and increase engagement with its neighbors, potential recruits, donors, and the greater medical community. 

With the guidance of Professor Katina Scott, who's overseen the B3021 Non-Profit Campaign Practicum since 2018, teams will create compelling content and tactical elements for a yearlong plan which will be presented during the final client pitch in December. Professor Scott will be joined later in the semester by Brianna Bishop who will help BICsters drill down on creative content. 

Campaign development kicked off with the Client Briefing on September 9, 2021 which was presented by CSOM Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, Bob DeMicco, Jr.,  Interim Dean, Dr. Erica Friedman, MD, FACP, Executive Director of Admissions, Wellness & Counseling, Dr. Jodie Meyer, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Dr. Dani Mcbeth, Chair of the School’s Executive Advisory Board, Dr. Marthe Gold, Assistant Dean, Academic & Faculty Affairs, Annabel Santana-Colón, M.P.H. and Incoming Dean of The CUNY School of Medicine, Dr. Carmen Renee' Green, M.D. 

Past non-profit capstone clients have been CUNY Arts, Sandy Hook Promise, The Grove School of Engineering, Columbia Children’s Health, The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, the UJA, and Memorial Sloan Kettering & CCNY in their research collaboration Redressing Access to and Disparities in Immunotherapy for Breast Cancer (READI).

Stay tuned to see the amazing work our BICsters develop over the next few months.