A decision to use his Thursday evenings at the JayDoc Community Clinic's outreach program, helping the medically underserved and working with medical students, has opened another door for Dr. Robin Walker.

"Being able to serve the homeless population on Thursday evenings has been very rewarding to me," said Walker, a faculty member at KU School of Medicine-Wichita's family medicine residency program at Wesley Medical Center who began working at the Lord's Diner outreach clinic in January. "It's always been a passion of mine."

Former adviser leaves ... big shoes

Walker now has an expanded outlet for that passion, as the new faculty adviser to the JayDoc Community Clinic and the students who lead it. He brings relevant experience with safety net clinics to his new role, having worked two and a half years at GraceMed Health Clinic in Wichita, including two as medical director, before joining the residency faculty in 2011.

Walker knows he has "huge shoes to fill" taking over for Dr. Scott Moser, adviser to the clinic since its start more than 11 years ago. Moser became associate dean for curriculum this summer and said that with his new responsibilities he "wasn't able to give enough of myself to the JayDoc students as needed," though he plans to continue working at the clinic as a volunteer supervisor.

"Dr. Walker has a terrific heart for service to the underserved," Moser said. "He brings expertise to the adviser role that I don't have. He has training and experience working with homeless people and as a provider and medical director of a safety net clinic," Moser said. "When I approached him about JayDoc, his eyes lit up."

Heart and passion to serve the under-served

Walker graduated from Southwestern College in Winfield and then from KU School of Medicine-Wichita in 2006. After completing his family practice residency at Wesley in 2009, he went to work at GraceMed.

"I became interested in hunger and homeless issues while in college. I went to Washington, D.C., and was astounded that there were so many homeless sleeping on the steps of our Congress, of our seat of power. For me, homelessness has a face and is not just a concept," he said.

Working alongside medical students at JayDoc provides him with a jolt of energy. "It's fascinating and rewarding to work with medical students who have so much passion about medical care but also about social justice and serving this population," said Walker, assistant professor of family and community medicine. "The students who volunteer are so hungry for knowledge and opportunities, it's invigorating to spend time with them and help them along in their education."

Since its founding, the JayDoc program has steadily grown as medical students saw community needs and found ways to meet them. Medical students and supervising physicians are volunteers. They provide care Saturdays at the Guadalupe Clinic, weekday evenings through JayDoc's outreach clinic near the Lord's Diner, and specialty diabetes and women's clinics.

"I saw the clinic go from the dream of a handful of dedicated medical students to an interdisciplinary outreach involving medical students in all four years of school," said Moser. Premedical, pharmacy, physical therapy, and social work students have been integrated into JayDoc. "I have learned so much and been inspired in a myriad of ways by the students, volunteer supervisors, Guadalupe staff, and the patients we've served."

Tradition of student "ownership" and vision

Since taking over in mid-October, Walker has taken a deliberate, learn-the-ropes approach to assuming the adviser's role.

"I sit in on board meetings and provide a practicing clinician's perspective about issues that may be arising, and give a little bit of guidance in their decision making," Walker said.

Moser said he focused on making sure students maintained "ownership" of everything about JayDoc. Walker agrees that one of his roles will be to ensure that it's the students' vision that leads JayDoc forward.   As a student-run organization, "we don't dictate to them," Walker said of JayDoc's student leadership. "They have the ideas and the passion."

Walker knows he has a legacy to live up to.

"Dr. Moser is a phenomenal physician who has done a superb job of guiding these medical students and providing them support in a very successful endeavor. I don't walk into this lightly," Walker said. "I hope that my time with them continues to allow them to grow and develop and serve their needs and the community's needs."