Since 2003, the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic (PNC) has been an integral component of health professional education at the University of Minnesota. Part of the 1Health Interprofessional Education Curriculum, the two- to three-year PNC volunteer commitment enables students to experience working in a team-based, patient-centered, interprofessional setting. PNC is a student-run, free clinic in which learners from multiple health professions care for under-resourced people of Minneapolis and surrounding communities under the guidance of an interprofessional team of preceptors.
Boluwatife Lowen, an Interprofessional Education Scholar, volunteered at PNC during her first two years of graduate studies in public health nutrition. She says her experience at PNC allowed her to be actively involved with the clinic across multiple semesters while supporting patients from underserved communities seeking accessible healthcare services.
At PNC, Lowen served on the nutrition team as a clinical nutritionist and provided nutrition education and counseling to patients managing conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and other diet-related health concerns. She also helped address food insecurity by distributing food items from the clinic’s food pantry and connecting patients to nutrition resources.
“A key part of my role involved providing nutrition education to students and individuals who were new to the country, helping them adapt to the foods available in their new environment,” says Lowen. “I guided them on food modification strategies, including how they could use locally available ingredients to recreate meals similar to the recipes they were familiar with in their home countries. I also discussed ways to maintain healthy eating habits while balancing school, work, and daily life activities, emphasizing practical approaches that support good nutrition without adding unnecessary stress to their academic or personal responsibilities.”
Volunteer interpreters also play a key role in serving PNC patients. As a first-year volunteer, Pablo Monterroso worked as both an interpreter and a medical clinician who typically cared for two to four patients per night.
“As an interpreter, I supported Spanish-speaking patients throughout their entire visit, from intake to working with students and preceptors, pharmacy, lab work, and occasional follow-up,” says Monterroso, who is a medical student and an Interprofessional Education Scholar.
In his second-year as a PNC volunteer, he continued in those roles and also served as Community Relations Co-Chair on the administrative board. In that role, he bridged the patient community, community advocates, and clinic leadership.
“I worked closely with our community advocate and pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church which hosts the clinic, helping address patient needs, organizing feedback through focus groups, and building partnerships with community organizations,” says Monterroso. “Some examples include developing our ICE response protocols during Operation Metro Surge, adapting clinic operations based on patient concerns, and supporting new services like vaccine specialty nights and mammography events.”
Commitment to community
Each student typically volunteers 60 hours per year. Every Monday and Thursday evening, they care for patients from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Their goal is to provide everyone free, quality healthcare regardless of insurance situation, citizenship status, or financial background.
“Throughout their time with the clinic, students learn about the community, the culture of the people they serve, and the skills needed to practice their profession within an interprofessional collaborative team,” says Brian Sick, MD, MHA, who has served as PNC’s medical director since 2007.
Strength in learning from each other
According to Sick, the interprofessional collaboration at PNC is what students enjoy most.
“Working alongside students from medicine, pharmacy, social work, and other health professions allowed us to approach patient care from multiple perspectives and learn from one another’s expertise,” says Lowen. “I also found it extremely valuable to learn from the preceptors, who were always available to guide us, answer questions, and provide additional counseling insights on various health conditions. Their mentorship helped strengthen my clinical reasoning and communication skills.”
Monterroso also enjoyed seeing how different professions approach the same patient from their own perspective and training.
“It helped me better understand each team member’s role and how those perspectives come together to shape a more complete care plan,” he says. “It also made me more intentional about communication and teamwork in real clinical settings, not just in theory. Both in the clinic and on the board, it’s been clear how much stronger patient care is when everyone is contributing their strengths and working collaboratively.”
Champions for volunteering at PNC
Lowen says she would highly recommend other health professional students to volunteer at Phillips Neighborhood Clinic.
“Volunteers develop clinical, communication, and cultural competency skills while also gaining a deeper understanding of health equity, food insecurity, and resource navigation. It is a meaningful experience that not only prepares students for future clinical practice but also allows them to make a positive impact in the community,” says Lowen. “This experience helped prepare me for my clinical internship rotations, including work in long-term care settings, where teamwork, patient-centered counseling, and understanding patients’ social and nutritional needs are essential.”
Monterroso agrees, saying volunteering at PNC provides learners “early, hands-on clinical experience while serving an underserved community, which is really meaningful and rewarding. I think it's the best way to make a tangible direct impact early on in your career. At the same time, you’re working closely with students from other health professions and building interprofessional skills in a real-world setting, which is something that’s hard to replicate in the classroom. It's allowed me to get to know students from other programs in a way that I haven't found anywhere else.”
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