COM Team Peer Mentoring Program

The purpose of the COM TEAM Program is to prepare medical students for academic success by integrating peer mentoring for support and guidance.  All first year College of Medicine students are assigned to a COM TEAM group, consisting of nine students.  Eighty second-year students are selected annually and are known as COM TEAM Leaders.  The construct of matching mentors with mentors is an orderly configuration that consists of 20 small groups where four second year students are assigned to each group to serve as mentors.  The groups serve as support groups for orientation activities, during the first year and students engaged in team-based learning experiences in the Fundamentals of Patient Care (FPC) Theme, a curriculum requirement for year one.  In addition to four COM TEAM leaders, two faculty preceptors participate in the program as faculty mentors and also serve as facilitators for FPC.

COM TEAM Leaders serve as a positive role model by sharing their educational/professional experiences and networking opportunities and offer advice, insight and overall support to students as they get acclimated to a new academic environment. Throughout the first semester of medical school, COM TEAM Leaders facilitate lunch meetings to discuss pertinent topics depending on where in the semester you are. COM TEAM Leaders are also expected to maintain contact with their peers to check in and answer questions you may have.

The ultimate goal is to develop competent medical school students who successfully complete school and become the physician they always wanted to be.