The Health Coach Program at the UC Riverside School of Medicine is a community-based initiative aimed at reducing the number of patients with uncontrolled chronic conditions. The program trains health coaches to support patient care while integrating with healthcare teams in a clinical setting.

Health coaches are volunteers who are either junior or senior undergraduate pre-health students at local colleges, or recent college graduates.

Through weekly follow-ups and continuous communication with their patients’ health care team, health coaches help patients build progressive goals, become true advocates for their patients, and establish a rapport that allows them to identify patient’s existing barriers to healthier lifestyle habits.

The Health Coach Program, which began in 2013, is a partnership between the UCR School of Medicine and Riverside University Health System.