For a school that places so much emphasis on the importance of community, the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV has the ideal person in one of its most crucial roles. Jennifer Young, director of community engagement, has lived a life that has always had community, care, and partnership at its core.
Raised in Asia and Europe as the child of a U.S. Air Force father, Jennifer moved back to the United States in her mid-teens. As fate would have it, the last base her dad was posted was Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas.
“My first real job was in healthcare,” says Young. “After I graduated from high school, I worked for University Medical Center [of Southern Nevada]. I started in Quick Care, front and back office. During college, I then went to [work in] the hospital. I worked in the pediatric emergency room, adult, and trauma for about 10 to 12 years.” During that period, she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from UNLV. Young’s last role at UMC was as a patient advocate, working as a liaison between patients and hospital and medical staff, as well as community and state agencies. She also managed 250 hospital community volunteers.
“That was really eye-opening for me because, prior to that, I'd only worked very much in the inpatient setting and really acute care working with families and patients,” Young says. “Being on the other end of the spectrum of working a lot more with the senior population who were experiencing things like dementia, Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's, that was completely different and was really educational.” She notes up until that point, she had been a public servant, working in a public hospital. Joining the Cleveland Clinic, technically a nonprofit, “... was very educational for me to see the differences in populations.”
Young joined the school of medicine in 2018 as assistant director of community engagement and then became director in 2020. Serving both internal and external roles in this position, Young’s external responsibility is developing and overseeing partnerships for students and faculty, primarily involving community service opportunities, as well as scholarship and research opportunities. Her internal role is teaching in the undergraduate medical curriculum, focusing on public health, health policy, and the social determinants of health.
Two major school community initiatives that Young is most proud of are Well Connect and the UNLV Community Clinic. “Our students do take part in both of these as first- and second-year students. It's part of their curriculum. Our students serve as patient navigators. They work with folks in the community and they don't necessarily have to be underserved. They just have to have a need. Students interview folks, they work to identify needs, whether around housing or utility assistance, childcare or adult daycare, transportation, or if they need healthcare providers. So, connecting them to resources that are available in the community.”
Irma Corral, Ph.D., associate dean for community affairs, works closely with Young in the department. As she tells it, Young was a key contributor as the school was first developing its community engagement efforts. “It'll be eight years this summer, and she is everything. She is the heart, the soul of those original relationships.”
“I'm always reaching out to our UNLV Health [associated clinical practice] side or our GME side to see what initiatives they have that we can push out in the community and promote for them,” Young continues. “One example would be Walk with a Doc, which is on the UNLV Health side. And curriculum-wise, when I have my fourth-year students for health policy, I make sure that we send those students there because one, you're thinking about preventative medicine and Walk with a Doc is a wonderful program, but also it’s important to be able to answer questions and discuss health topics with people in casual settings.”
Beyond her role as educator, Young oversees the school’s community engagement. Central to that responsibility is staying true to the school’s mission.
Says Young, “I actually keep a copy of the mission here at my desk. The part that's highlighted is ‘to serve.’ We're here to serve our patients, students, medical professionals, and community. The part that's also here is that we are to be the transformational force for improving healthcare in Nevada.” She goes on to state that the school’s responsibility begins with the application process for students, and continues on to the patients it serves and its role in the community. Understanding the community it serves is crucial to facilitating transformation.
“It's our responsibility as a school about what type of physician we are producing. All schools and communities have different personalities and so, for us, it's been very important to produce physicians that not only understand what their patients may be encountering inside, but outside the exam room … how to advocate and try to improve things upstream and downstream.”
Reflecting on Young’s time at the school, Corral can’t overstate the significance. “She has impacted our partnerships, our curriculum, and she is such a good role model for our team. I appreciate working with her because, together, we're shaping a brand new vision. We have a complementing skillset. I'm excited about where the joint vision is going to grow from here.”
