Dr. James B. Reuler’s long career tells a story of extraordinary contributions to programs that serve those facing the highest barriers to care and other services that promote well-being. He founded Wallace as The Wallace Medical Concern in 1984, out of a desire to bring safety net medical services to low-income, uninsured, houseless, and housing-insecure residents of Old Town in downtown Portland. He recruited a handful of other physicians to join him in making visits to hotels and shelters in Old Town. This effort grew rapidly and resulted in volunteer-led weekly medical clinics at several locations. Over time, the organization, named for one of Dr. Reuler’s former patients, transferred its operations to East Multnomah County to address the needs of that area’s growing Latino and low-income population.

As a career physician and faculty member at Oregon Health & Science University and the Veterans Administration Hospital, Dr. Reuler saw firsthand how few students of color enrolled in medical school programs, with representation much lower than in the region’s population overall. Personal experiences with family and acquaintances also highlighted the problem for him. He researched and prepared data and observations to share with peers on campus to draw attention to the issue. And he came up with a plan to take his own direct action to positively influence on what he calls “Doctoring’s Future”.

Dr. Reuler’s mentoring work with students of color began as a personal mission without “a road map to follow.” He mobilizes his extensive professional network and, over time, has settled on effective linkages and strategies through trial and error. His work is not under the umbrella of a particular organization; rather he engages many individuals and organizations in different ways to provide education and mentoring support to local students who may never have thought of themselves as future medical professionals.

An early challenge was to identify students who would be interested in a mentoring opportunity. One of Dr. Reuler’s initial strategies was to research Rose Court candidates each year and ask for permission from their Rose Festival mentors to offer students an opportunity to meet and learn more. Several of these students went on to work with Dr. Reuler subsequently went on to medical school. He also has a strong relationship with Roosevelt High School where he mentored Black/African American students and makes presentations introducing students to medicine and health fields. Word of mouth from colleagues and other community contacts also has helped to introduce him to potential mentees.

Dr. Reuler has worked to connect his mentees with current BIPOC medical students at OHSU—a challenge given the small population of such students at the university. Alternatively, he arranged connections with other current medical students, arranged participation in beneficial summer programs, and helped to set up field experiences such as job shadowing with medical professionals in community clinics.

Dr. Reuler excels at weaving together an informal network of connections and partnerships to support his mentorship work. As described above, he has worked closely with Rose Festival officials to offer opportunities to students in their program. Likewise, has a well-established relationship with Roosevelt High School. As a career (now retired) medical professional and faculty member at OHSU he has connections to a variety of summer programs, potential mentors, student recruitment resources and more that can support a student in learning more about a medical career, and navigating admissions processes. His career-long relationship with Central City Concern (a connection Wallace shares) has enabled him to arrange job shadowing experiences for mentees. As a volunteer with Black United Fund, Dr. Reuler has connected with potential mentees, participated in career education activities, and personally supports a scholarship there for students interested in health fields.

Most recently, Dr. Reuler has been discussing the potential for joining with Wallace’s ongoing workforce pipeline activities in partnership with Center for Advanced Learning (CAL), a charter high school in Gresham that focuses on career education and has one of the largest health sciences programs in the state. Wallace is developing a variety of strategies in conjunction with CAL to engage and support their students, including classroom and panel presentations by Wallace staff to demonstrate the range of health careers and potential pathways, as well as work shadowing experiences for medical and dental assisting students.

The impact of Dr. Reuler’s work is difficult to quantify, but substantial. Its effects will continue to spread as students he has mentored embark on lifelong careers in medicine and other health fields, touching the lives of countless patients and inspiring other young people from their communities by their example. Likewise, his continued advocacy with colleagues at OHSU, and in the community overall, has increased awareness of the need to model health careers as a rewarding, real and achievable pathway for students of color. Spreading that message has the potential to inspire students who may never have seen themselves on that path, and are influenced by a conversation, a presentation at their school, or an opportunity to participate in a job shadowing experience.

Because we want our nomination of Dr. Reuler for this recognition to be a surprise for him, we have not had the opportunity to gather specific data from him such as the total number of students he has mentored, and how many have entered medical school and medical careers to date. Our firm belief, however, is that whether his efforts have encouraged 5, 10, 20 or 100 talented students to recognize and pursue a health profession, this is a profound achievement that helps to build a medical profession more rooted in the full range of cultural experiences within our community.

Submission written by Katrina Ratzlaff, Director of Community Engagement, Wallace