Proudly supported by McKesson Corp., the McKesson Foundation is committed to eliminating barriers to quality health care across North America, especially for undertreated communities. Through nonprofit partnerships, the Foundation supports locally driven programs designed to improve health equity.

A recent grant from the McKesson Foundation to Southwestern Medical Foundation will support the student-run free clinics at UT Southwestern Medical Center over the next three years, providing opportunities for health care professionals training at the institution to develop greater empathy for patients with different ethnic, financial, and cultural backgrounds.

“We support the student-run free clinics because we want to encourage the Medical School students to make a tangible difference in the lives of patients,” said McKesson Foundation President Melissa Thompson. “It’s all about those medical students gaining valuable understanding of the needs of the most underserved populations, and it’s about providing critical care to patients who otherwise would not receive it.”

Medical students volunteering in the clinics hope to address that gaping deficit. During shifts, they check patients in, work up medical histories, take vitals, and administer vaccines and medications.

“It is important to train those young doctors to have the cultural competency to manage the care of populations like the unhoused, those facing food insecurity, or those with low health literacy who often have a mistrust of health care practitioners,” Ms. Thompson said.

What began in 2006 as a modest student outreach program has grown to encompass five locations across Dallas. Since then, close to 1,000 Medical School students have logged more than 16,000 volunteer hours caring for people at clinic sites that include The Monday Clinic operated by North Dallas Shared Ministries; Agape Multidisciplinary, Dermatology, and Musculoskeletal Clinics; Brother Bill’s Helping Hand Clinic; Union Gospel Mission Smoking Cessation Clinic; and Union Gospel Mission Shelter Clinics, which include Calvert Place Men’s Shelter and Center of Hope Women and Children’s Shelter.

It’s an impact that in many ways leads the nation. According to UT Southwestern’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, over the past four years, 74% of the institution’s students have volunteered in the clinics, besting the national average of 68%.

“The McKesson Foundation’s support helps us measure our program’s impact on the community and our learner-volunteers,” said Nora Gimpel, M.D., Vice Chair of Community Health in UT Southwestern’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, Director of the Student-Run Free Clinics Program, and a Professor of Family and Community Medicine.

Support from the McKesson Foundation, which is among the clinics’ largest supporters, has enabled the program to work with professionals to develop its organizational structure, expand marketing efforts, and benchmark performance against other medical schools. Funds have also helped spread the program’s successful model, including supporting students traveling to conferences to share their research.

“Without the McKesson Foundation’s support, I don’t know how we would go about doing what we want to do,” Dr. Gimpel said. “In my 21 years here, the McKesson Foundation has given me the most incredible gift that serves such a wonderfully worthwhile purpose.”

• Dr. Gimpel holds the Dr. John L. and Louise Roan Professorship in Family Medicine.