Last year, the Alumni Association of Rush Medical College launched a new volunteer initiative called the HOST (Helping Our Students Travel) Program and will be contacting alumni to participate again this year.

The program matches medical students interviewing for residency positions with alumni volunteers who are willing to provide overnight accommodations. The program’s goal is twofold: to reduce students’ interviewing costs and to connect them with fellow Rush-trained physicians.

“The HOST program not only saved me money, but also provided the unexpected benefit of networking with Rush graduates working in the environment and community I was visiting,” said recent graduate Jose Gonzalez, MD 2009, of his experience in the program. (Gonzalez is now an internal medicine intern at the University of Southern California.)

Alumni hosts like Michael A. Skinner, MD 1984, have found that volunteering requires minimal commitment and provides them with the opportunity to reconnect with the medical college, as well as the satisfaction of working with young colleagues just entering the practice of medicine.

“My wife and I provided the student we hosted with a bed and a bath and helped him with transportation. After his interview, we all had dinner together and shared a glass of wine. He was a high caliber student, and we enjoyed our time with him a lot,” Skinner said. “This is a valuable experience for alumni. It gives you the opportunity to learn more about what’s been happening on the Rush campus and allows you to build new relationships with fellow Rush graduates.”

If you receive a call or e-mail about a student who will be interviewing in your geographic area, please consider hosting.

For more information about volunteer opportunities available to Rush medical alumni, contact Alysha Comstock, director of development and alumni relations, at (312) 942-7227.