TRUST Program Requirements

TRUST Program Outline

Required Activities for TRUST Scholars


1. Attend and participate in the four Learning Retreats held throughout the academic year. Retreats are held in person at alternating locations between Syracuse and °®¶¹´«Ã½. Attendance is expected at all and retreats will rotate to ensure equity.

Attendance at the learning retreats is required. TRUST Scholars who must miss a learning retreat (e.g., due to illness) should contact their faculty members as soon as they are able to schedule a make-up session. Note that the make-up learning retreat will not provide the same experience as we cannot recreate the full interprofessional atmosphere or ask the guest speakers (clinicians and community members) to come back for the make-up retreat.

Learning Retreat Topics

Year 1

  • Trust Welcome Event
    1-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024
    Ross Park Zoo
  • Providing Person-centered Care to People with Intellectual and Developmental
    Disabilities
    1-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept 22, 2024
    SUNY Upstate Medical University
  • Accessing Reproductive Healthcare
    1-5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024
    °®¶¹´«Ã½
  • Delivering Appropriate Care to the LGBTQ+ Population
    1-5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025
    SUNY Upstate Medical University
  • A Veteran’s Perspective in Healthcare
    1-5 p.m. Sunday, Mar 2, 2025
    °®¶¹´«Ã½
  • TRUST End of the Year Celebration
    Sunday, April 27, 2025
    Time/Location TBA

Year 2 (may adapt as the curriculum progresses)

  • Exploring Rural and Urban Health
    Date/Time TBA Fall 2025
    °®¶¹´«Ã½
  • Delivering Services to Refugees
    Date/Time TBA Fall 2025
    SUNY Upstate Medical University
  • The Aging Population and Healthcare
    Date/time TBA Fall 2025
    °®¶¹´«Ã½
  • Working with Patients with Substance Use Disorder
    Date/time TBA Fall 2025
    SUNY Upstate Medical University

Learning Retreat Schedule


Each learning retreat will be four hours in duration and begin with a guest and/or faculty speaker. After the speaker session, the interprofessional cohort will be assigned a clinical case with questions designed to facilitate interprofessional work. After the case, all students will learn a clinical skill that may be later applied to their experiential education.

2. Participate in at least five community outreach activities sponsored by the Rural and Underserved Service Track per year (see below)


Outreach activities must be attended throughout a student's involvement in TRUST. Students must participate in at least two activities per semester. The minimum two clinical activities must be completed by the end of the last day of class.

Students are not allowed to miss classes, switch lab or discussion sections, or come late or leave early in order to participate in a community outreach activity. The only exceptions to this rule are the TRUST learning retreats as those are a required component of TRUST and occur at set times twice a semester.

Alignment with Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) 

The goal of this program is to align with the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Scholars program for recognition and future sources of funding.

AHEC Scholars is a program for health professions students interested in supplementing their education by gaining additional knowledge and experience in rural and/or underserved urban settings. This is a longitudinal program with interdisciplinary requirements to implement a defined set of clinical, didactic and community-based activities. All experiential or clinical training will be conducted in rural and/or underserved urban settings.

Program duration is two years and each year includes the following for a total of 160 hours:

40 hours community-based, experiential or clinical training in rural and/or underserved area
40 hours didactic education (focused on six Core Topic Areas), with learning retreats accounting for 16 hours/yearInterprofessional education
Behavioral health integration
Social determinants of health
Cultural competency
Practice transformation
Current and emerging health issues