The Penn State Mini Medical School: A Prescription for Community Engagement in Health Care Issues and Research

The Penn State Mini Medical School is a high-impact community engagement program created and led by the Office of Continuing Education at the Penn State College of Medicine. The broad goals of the program are to respond to the general public's intense desire for health and medical information, to educate the community about biomedical science and the translation of medical research to clinical treatments, to enhance the pipeline for health care professionals, and to advance the land-grant mission of Penn State University to educate the general public to a level of competence for decision making in today's complex health care environment. This article reviews the development of mini medical schools across the country, describes one example of how this outreach activity has been applied in order to stimulate community engagement for downstream effects, and further suggests how the use of this outreach model might be incorporated in different disciplines and venues.