This article is part of Harvard Medical School’s continuing coverage of medicine, biomedical research, medical education and policy related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the disease COVID-19.

This student-led team first gathered together on March 15th to rapidly develop an organizational structure to coordinate and augment the HMS student body response to COVID-19 in collaboration with the HMS administration, leadership, affiliated hospitals, and community partners. 

Currently, there are four overarching committees that are supported by hundreds of members across the student body. The structure will continue to evolve as the response grows. The Response Team embraces the principles of being adaptive, nimble, and inclusive for all initiatives that will optimize our collective impact as a medical student body. We will be planning to post more updates on a full website shortly along with highlighting various initiatives within each of the existing committees. 

For more information now on how to connect with our efforts and help us broaden them, please contact: hmscovid19studentresponse@gmail.com or visit their website: https://covidstudentresponse.org/.

  • Co-Leaders and Committee Oversight: Shivangi Goel, Kirstin Woody Scott, and Derek Soled

  • Activism for Non-Medical Support - Team Leaders: Nishant Uppal, Parsa Erfani, & David Velasquez

    • This team is working on a number of initiatives to support vulnerable populations affected by COVID-19 as well as engaging medical student service and activism that may not be related to direct clinical support. This includes housing policy activism, addressing needs from essential health staff, and liaising with broader student community in Boston and beyond re: how to support essential health staff with needs (child care, grocery shopping, etc.) Please contact us above to learn more about these initiatives.

  • Education for Medical Community - Team Leader: Michael Kochis

  • Education for Broader Community - Team Leaders: Kruti Vora and Nicky Joseph

    • This team focuses on promoting educational materials, music videos, and infographics for a broader audience (social distancing, etc.), including translating COVID-19 educational material in other languages. Please follow them on twitter (@FutureMDvsCovid) or instagram (https://www.instagram.com/futuremdvscovid/). 

  • Activism for Medical Support Team Leaders: Shivangi Goel & Danika Barry

    • This team is working with hospital leadership to create a framework for involving the medical student workforce in the clinical needs emerging from hospital sites. The focus of this group is helping with innovative policy creation about the medical student workforce re-allocation and placement in this evolving crisis. We will make sure every HMS student is aware of clinically-supportive opportunities as they emerge.