Bridging the Gaps, a collaboration among academic health centers and community organizations, turns 35 this year. Drexel students are among those in the Delaware Valley who have the opportunity to participate in Bridging the Gaps via a seminar series on public and community health topics, clinical rotations at community health centers where students work hands on with underserved populations, and the Community Health Internship Program, which was hosted at Drexel in 2024.

Elissa Goldberg, MSS, LSW, who is program director of the Office of Community Engagement and directs Drexel’s Bridging the Gaps program, reflects on the program’s impact on students and the community: “Bridging the Gaps is about bringing people together — across differences, across resources, across language and age and ability,” she says. “It’s about taking the time to ask questions and to listen to each other so that we can recognize the gaps that we fall into, understand the ways that our systems create and deepen those chasms and, all together, seek creative interventions.”