Clinical Care Pathway

Leader
Sara Esposito, MD

Education Program Specialist
Gabby Knight

Class of 2026 Student Representative
Mitchell Lavoie

Class of 2027 Student Representative
Maia Shalev

Class of 2028 Student Representatives
Danielle Sharon
Katherine Coyne
Lianne Ryan

Class of 2029 Student Representatives
Alison Swierczynski

Pathway Description 

The Clinical Care Pathway focuses on fostering excellence in clinical care. Through didactic, small group and immersive sessions, students will learn about communication, high value care, team-based care, cultural humility, and interprofessional care. Pathways Longitudinal Projects (PLP) may focus on addressing a clinical problem, health care gap, patient safety issue or patient education gap via innovation, quality improvement intervention, development of educational materials, or prospective research.

Highlights

• Interactive class sessions consisting of brief student presentations and feedback
• Opportunity to collaborate with UMass faculty in strengthening communication techniques 
• Strengthen written and oral communication skills through presentations and patient interviews
• Exposure and access to expert communicators through the palliative care department

Sample Topics Covered

• Hypothesis driven history taking
• Foundations of effective communication and therapeutic relationships led by the Palliative Care team
• Clinical Teaching and structured communication including conflict resolution techniques

FEB 2 2026 | cjd