{"id":141164,"date":"2026-01-22T15:44:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=141164"},"modified":"2026-01-23T12:44:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:44:46","slug":"4th-annual-mlk-luncheon-celebrates-community-service","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/news-events\/articles\/2026\/4th-annual-mlk-luncheon-celebrates-community-service\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Annual MLK Luncheon Celebrates Community Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Fourth-year medical student Neil Singh Bedi, MPH, moderates a panel at MLK Luncheon that includes: (l-r) Grace Johnson, M2, Associate Professor Jonathan Wisco, PhD\u201903, Meg Haberle, M2, and second-year medical student Aiman Altaf.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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Annual MLK Luncheon Celebrates Community Service\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Program highlighted the work of student and faculty outreach programs.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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January 22, 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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On Feb. 4, 1968, just two months before his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr., PhD\u201955, delivered one of his most famous speeches, telling the congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church that \u201cEverybody can be great because anybody can serve. … You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was in that spirit of community service that 65 students, faculty and staff gathered in Hiebert Lounge Jan. 20 for the Fourth Annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Luncheon to honor his legacy and listen to presentations by three student and faculty organizations at the medical school. dedicated to serving others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology Jonathan Wisco<\/a>, PhD\u201903, founded the Anatomy Academy<\/a> in 2012 when he was teaching physiology at Brigham Young University. Medical students and others in dentistry, nursing, public health, public policy and education teach anatomy, physiology and nutrition. The program followed Wisco to Boston University and has expanded to other universities in Utah, California, Florida, Iowa and Arizona.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal (of the program) is to provide mentoring opportunities to inspire kids, K-12, to go into the sciences and find their pathways to health sciences careers.<\/p>Jonathan Wisco, PhD<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal (of the program) is to provide mentoring opportunities to inspire kids, K-12, to go into the sciences and find their pathways to health sciences careers,\u201d said Wisco. \u201cOne of the biggest compliments that we get from kids year in year out\u2026is that they feel that they are learning something, and they don’t even feel like they’re in school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mentors also benefit from the academy experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey realize an ability to make a difference in the world,\u201d Wisco said. \u201cThey have insight into the effectiveness of guiding students through material, rather than lecturing; awareness of the value, respect, and learning environment; cognizance of the power of individualized attention to motivate students; and they have a reflection on their own personal growth through the influence of students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We work to amplify the experiences of individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions through advocacy, community engagement and curricular enhancement.<\/p>Grace Johnson<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Second-year medical student Grace Johnson is a co-leader of the Disability Advocacy Team<\/a> and leads the Disability and Identity Vertical Integration Group<\/a> that advocates for curriculum changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe work to amplify the experiences of individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions through advocacy, community engagement and curricular enhancement,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cUniversal design is our end goal of how we create spaces, both physical and social, in a way that is accessible for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidewalk curb cuts, for example, help those with wheelchairs, but also people delivering heavy boxes, bicycle riders and someone with a stroller. To counter the discomfort that medical students report feeling when working with the disabled, the Disability and Identity Vertical Integration Group has been focused on curriculum changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis started in 2024 with a self-learning guide, a take home learning sheet on disability,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cA fourth-year clinical pediatric disability elective was something we worked with faculty to create that was implemented last year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmall changes are really meaningful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OVP allows medical students to be really hands on and involved with the underserved populations that they’re going to be serving during med school and after med school.<\/p>Meg Haberle<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Outreach Van Project<\/a> (OVP) has been operating in medically underserved communities in Greater Boston since 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOVP’s mission is to provide necessities that are outside of healthcare, such as food, clothing, toiletries and other basic needs that sometimes need to be met before you can think about healthcare,\u201d said second-year medical student Meg Haberle who co-chairs OVP with second-year medical student Aiman Altaf. Recently, the group partnered with Boston Medical Center residents to resume the practice of having physicians ride along in the van, which was discontinued during the pandemic. OVP also connects clients to primary care and other community services like shelters, detox and nutritional resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a social worker who accompanies us to East Boston every week to help facilitate these referrals and access,\u201d said Haberle. They recently expanded OVP services to include Roxbury, a neighborhood directly adjacent to the Medical Campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOVP allows medical students to be really hands on and involved with the underserved populations that they’re going to be serving during med school and after med school,\u201d said Haberle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Feb. 4, 1968, just two months before his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr., PhD\u201955, delivered one of his most famous speeches, telling the congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church that \u201cEverybody can be great because anybody can serve. … You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":141177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Events","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[383,526,358,405],"bu-publication":[367],"medicine-article-category":[],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[455],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[390],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/141164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141164"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/141164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141182,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/141164\/revisions\/141182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141164"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=141164"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=141164"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=141164"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=141164"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=141164"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=141164"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=141164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}