"Becoming Proximal" in Preclinical Medical Education: Community Engaged Learning Addressing Disparities in Care.

As the COVID-19 pandemic and national reckoning with racism reveal social disparities and their connection to health outcomes, we consider medical education's role in addressing pervasive health inequities and the labor of students, faculty, and community members who have come together to engage with these issues. We encourage institutions to consider a more socially-grounded model where all medical students-regardless of background, specialty, and career trajectory-participate in community-engaged and health equity-focused learning opportunities and curricula. As non-physician newcomers to medical education who are experienced in community-engaged work, in this commentary we consider how institutions might develop preclinical proximity-focused learning experiences. Reimagining academic medicine-community experiences has the potential to support medical students and community partnerships in fostering health equity in times of crisis and normalcy.