Community and Wellness Initiatives

Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this CUIMC initiative is a free, six-week academic enrichment program for rising sophomore and junior college students who are underrepresented in the health professions. The program provides a deeper understanding of basic sciences and quantitative topics and supports the development of study skills and group learning techniques. It also offers clinical shadowing experiences, admissions and financial aid planning workshops, health policy seminars, and opportunities for students to explore nursing, medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, public health, and nutrition.

Columbia Nursing collaborates with local schools and nonprofits such as Fresh Youth Initiatives that works with schools across New York City. Among the group’s efforts is an afterschool program at PS 128 where Doctor of Nursing Practice students develop and deliver a curriculum on brain health fundamentals, such as nutrition, sleep, screen time, and exercise, to local second-grade and fourth-grade students. 

Each summer, the Columbia Nursing’s Nurse Practitioner Group hosts a booth at the Fort Washington Greenmarket, where experts offer free health resources alongside the farmers, bakers, and food booths full of fresh produce, eggs, and bread.

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ColumbiaDoctors Outreach, a collaboration between the ColumbiaDoctors Nurse Practitioner Group and Columbia Primary Care, was launched in 2022 to expand access to primary care for staff and faculty at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), as well as people living in the surrounding community.

The ColumbiaDoctors Nurse Practitioner Group began by offering breast cancer screening and prostate cancer screening, along with presenting at Columbia Health Benefit expos and working with CUIMC specialty services, including ophthalmology, neurology, pediatrics, cardiology, and dermatology, to offer health screenings.

Faculty, staff, and students take yoga classes organized by the school's Human Resources and Wellness team.