Pictured left to right: Chris Grijalba, D.O., Linzy Buffington, M.S., L.A.T., A.T.C., Mark Carrasco, M.D.,
Calvin Spellmon, M.D.
“I wish someone had told me about these opportunities when I was your age.”
Family and Community Medicine Assistant Professor and Sports and Exercise Medicine provider Calvin Spellmon, M.D., addressed a room full of sixth graders during the UAB Department of Pediatrics’ 2024 “Mini Medical School.” Launched in 2022, the longitudinal program aims to increase middle schoolers’ awareness of career opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and, 
Calvin Spellmon, M.D., operates a POCUS device.especially, in health care. Additionally, program coordinators hope to create a conduit for those traditionally underrepresented in medicine (URiM).
Sports and Exercise Medicine Fellow Chris Grijalba, D.O., holds up a POCUS device.
Sports and Exercise Medicine Fellows Mark Carrasco, M.D., and Chris Grijalba, M.D., joined Dr. Spellmon and Athletic Trainer Linzy Buffington, M.S., L.A.T., A.T.C., for one of this year’s Mini Medical School sessions. A select group of Birmingham City School students attended “class,” with Drs. Carrasco, Grijalba and Spellmon all serving as “professors.” Doctors gave an overview of their jobs and shared their Sports and Exercise Medicine “tools of the trade,” from crutches to Family and Community Medicine’s new point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) devices. Numerous students eagerly volunteered for an “inside look” at their wrists, ankles and shoulders. Once revealed with the portable ultrasounds, doctors described the anatomy their devices captured. They taught students how to identify blood, bones and tissue. Doctors also explained the differences between what they spotted, like veins and arteries or ligaments and tendons.
Selected from schools in the Birmingham area, participants meet monthly to learn from healthcare and science professionals and to participate in hands-on STEM activities. From 25 participants from six different schools in its inaugural cohort in 2022, the program now boasts 75 students from 12 Birmingham City Schools.
The program is funded through the generous support of the Carlo Family, the Department of Pediatrics and Birmingham City Schools.