Children's Mercy Visiting Medical Student Elective

Welcome to the Mercy + ME program! Our program seeks to provide qualified fourth-year medical students from various backgrounds exposure to medical education, clinical experience and research opportunities in academic medicine at Children's Mercy Kansas City. Students from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply including those with a range of lived experiences, those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged and first-generation college students. 

Program description

Selected applicants will spend four weeks rotating on with Pediatric subspecialty services based on availability. Rotations take place June through September.

Recommended electives include:

• Adolescent Medicine
• Allergy/Immunology
• Child Neurology
• Developmental and Behavioral Medicine
• Foster Care Clinic
• Pediatric Cardiology
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine
• Pediatric Endocrinology
• Pediatric Gastroenterology
• Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
• Pediatric Infectious Diseases
• Pediatric Nephrology
• Pediatric Orthopedics
• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Pediatric Rehabilitation
• Pediatric Rheumatology
• Pediatric Surgery
• Sports Medicine

Rotations will also include one ½ day per week dedicated to unique clinical and research experiences with current Children’s Mercy faculty. Applicants will have the opportunity to provide care to diverse patient population with exposure to a wide spectrum of pediatric diagnoses while working closely with trainees and faculty. Participants will be expected to attend all scheduled educational conferences including (but not limited to) morning report, noon conferences, grand rounds and teaching sessions.

Mentoring and networking

Participants will meet with faculty from various backgrounds at Children’s Mercy throughout the rotation as well as current pediatric residents. Frances Turcotte-Benedict, MD, MPH (Medical Director of GME Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) will serve as the physician contact for applicants throughout the pediatric rotations. Students will also have the opportunity to meet with the Pediatric Residency Program Director and current residents in the residency program. Applicants interested in orthopedic surgery and pediatric surgery will have the opportunity to meet with program leadership in those departments.

Financial assistance

Selected participants will be awarded up to $2,100 for reimbursement of travel, lodging, meals and applications fees.

Eligibility

Current full-time fourth-year medical students, who are in good standing at accredited U.S. medical schools are eligible to apply. All are welcome to apply including individuals with a variety of backgrounds and life experiences.

Deadline

We accept applications on a rolling basis. We encourage applicants to apply early to receive their top elective choices. Our final rolling application deadline on the Mercy + ME website is the end of May each year.  

Selected applicants will be notified within 2 weeks of receipt of your application.

All applicants must complete an application form through American Association of Medical Colleges’ Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) for their pediatric elective of interest (excluding acting internships).

In addition, the following required documents must be emailed to Dr. Frances Turcotte Benedict, the Mercy + ME Program Director, fgturcotte@cmh.edu:

• One letter of recommendation 
• Curriculum vitae

• Mercy + ME application

Applicants will receive a confirmation email once all materials have been received and VSLO application is complete. 

Those applicants not selected for the funded rotation are strongly encouraged to apply for unfunded acting internships and electives at Children’s Mercy.