The Healthcare Improvement & Innovation in Quality (THINQ) Collaborative

THINQ is a health care improvement team within the UCLA Department of Medicine that aims to foster innovation and collaboration by forming inter-professional teams to catapult new solutions to real-world clinical problems specific to the Department of Medicine patient population. Our ultimate goal is to create an ideal environment in which providers, staff, and patients feel most comfortable. We are a motivated group of undergraduate and graduate students working with physicians at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to conduct clinical research and make proposals for the betterment of healthcare quality. Our program involves research, physician shadowing experience, speaker events from individuals in various healthcare fields, as well as discussions about diverse topics in the healthcare industry that affect patients and physicians. We shadow patient rounds, collect data, present research, and review papers on health care in order to propose solutions. We have had opportunities this year to present at several national undergraduate research conferences and submit manuscripts to undergraduate research journals. We offer mentorship, professional development, and the opportunity to view medicine through an intersectional perspective.