Sarah Rives, RN, CUSON student, appointed co-chair of CoSMO.

Sarah Rives, RN, FNP student at CUSON, has been appointed as the first nurse co-chair of CoSMO, the Columbia Student Medical Outreach. CoSMO's mission is to provide free, high-quality primary healthcare to the uninsured population of Washington Heights; promote community empowerment through outreach and educational efforts; and instill in students a lifelong commitment to the service of all who are in need.

Columbia Student Medical Outreach (CoSMO) began in 2000 when a group of first year medical students started to work on establishing a primary care center in their community devoted to serving the uninsured of Washington Heights. The clinic opened four years later on March 6th, 2004 at 21 Audubon Avenue. Thanks to the involvement of over 120 medical, public health, social work, and nursing students, attending physicians at Columbia University Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital senior administration, and community-based organizations, CoSMO now maintains and expanded its Saturday morning healthcare center to include not only medical care, but also the services of social workers, health educators, Spanish-language interpreters, and nurses.

The chairs serve as session coordinators and have a great deal of responsibility both inside the clinic and in their spare time. Sarah's appointment will expand the collaboration between the nursing and medical schools in CoSMO.