Nov. 26, 2025
Taking Care to the Street
Students learn to listen first in the Street Medicine at Pitt program.
TOPICS: Impact | School of Medicine | School of Public Health
Designs on Aging-Ready
By Strategic Communications
Trust is key to the relationship between a provider and a patient. The student volunteers of Street Medicine at Pitt know that especially well.
Since 2021, the interprofessional, student-run group has led walks around the streets of Pittsburgh to serve people who are homeless. Accompanied by faculty physicians, students carry medications, food, clothes and other supplies, but they’re sure to let those they encounter guide what the group provides. Some living on the street are wary of medical treatment after earlier experiences. Many just want a sympathetic ear.
The students draw on the philosophy of University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine alum Jim Withers, the street medicine physician and founder of Operation Safety Net, who emphasizes building relationships with those he serves.
From the organization’s beginning, Antonio Gumucio—a Pitt School of Medicine alum, public health student, emergency medical technician and the group’s cofounder and first president—proposed that Street Medicine at Pitt emphasize interprofessional collaboration. Membership now includes more than 100 student volunteers spanning the Schools of Medicine, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Public Health, Law, and Social Work.
Membership now includes more than 100 student volunteers spanning the Schools of Medicine, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Public Health, Law, and Social Work.
Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean, School of Medicine.
“Beyond outreach, we’ve continued growing our student-led initiatives aimed at addressing unmet needs within the population we serve,” says Allyson Andrews, the group’s vice president who also received her MS at the medical school. Recent work has included a teledermatology initiative, a sound barrier engineering project to reduce noise exposure and an effort to increase access to essential menstrual health and hygiene supplies.
This year marked the launch of the first-ever Street Medicine Law School Practicum, developed at Pitt’s School of Law. In the program, law students collaborate with street medicine teams on legal barriers affecting the unhoused population.
Julia Lam, former Street Medicine at Pitt president, founded the nonprofit Outreach Therapy shortly after graduating with her doctorate in occupational therapy from the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. The program goes outdoors to shelters and to residences to provide occupational therapy to people experiencing and transitioning out of homelessness.
“Our model of care expands upon existing models of homeless health care to focus on skills and resources to bridge the gap from survival of homelessness to thriving in a permanent transition into housing,” Lam says.