Kirby Clark

Director Kirby Clark, MD

The Metropolitan Physician Associate Program (MetroPAP) is a nine-month clerkship for third-year medical students who want to serve patients in urban communities. The program provides students with a strong clinical curriculum in an urban-based primary care practice and hospital.

MetroPAP students gain continuity experiences with patients, families, preceptors, staff, and the community—following patients through the hospital, clinic, emergency room, nursing home, and other venues of care. In this way, students see the impact of health and disease on the everyday lives of patients, as well as their families and communities.

My passion for social justice has found an outlet in medicine and these nine months have rekindled my energy. I have been taught primary care in its fullest sense – patient-centered and community-based – and have developed the clinical confidence and vigor to tackle the next steps of my education without the slightest hesitation. I am indebted to my patients who confided in me during their most vulnerable moments and my preceptors who trusted and encouraged me in my own.

Former MetroPAP student

Our MetroPAP students are fully immersed in the Urban Health experience, from direct patient care in clinic hospital and ED to community events and projects. They finish with excellent clinical skills ready to start residency. I have had a MetroPAP grad in my residency program for the past three years and they are always at the top of the class.

Residency Director in Minneapolis