When the COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier this year, medical students across the country were taken out of hospitals to reduce the risks of exposure and spread of the virus. In response, our medical student research associate Natasha Steele and two close friends from medical school started a student organization at the University of Washington: UW COVID-19 Student Service Corps (UW CSSC). Their goal was to harness their fellow students' time, energy, and skills in order to best respond to the evolving needs of the institution and its healthcare workers, as identified by UW healthcare leaders and workers themselves.

Natasha and her fellow students were inspired by a similar group at Columbia University, and modeled their organization after the original group there after it was featured in The New York Times in March. Natasha and other UWSSC leaders have been working with the Columbia group's founder, David Edelman, to share best practices and function as a sister chapter of their efforts.

UWCSSC offers a centralized, student-led structure for transforming the needs identified by the UW healthcare community into actionable projects that maintain student and patient safety. (Don't worry, these projects involve appropriate social distancing protocols!) Projects are supervised by faculty and range from community service work to research to quality improvement initiatives. UW Medicine leaders, faculty, and staff continue to submit project ideas and identify system needs through the UWCSSC centralized portal. 

You can follow along with the group's effort on Twitter: @UWCSSC. If you're interested in learning about ways to support UWCSSC, you can also email them.

Since Natasha got UW CSSC up and running, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill medical students have also started their own chapter of this organization.

Along with the Columbia group, Natasha and UW CSSC were featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Needless to say, Team LaboYama is very proud that one of our own is doing so much good during these uncertain times.

Thank you, Natasha! We look forward to having you back in the Bay Area in June!