Privacy Policy and Frequently Asked Questions

In short, the information collected on this site is kept private at all times. In fact, not a single page on this website will ever display your e-mail address, not even in the private sections. We have taken the utmost security precautions to ensure your information is kept safe, and you can rest assured it will never be divulged to anyone or be used for any purpose other than the bare minimum requirements for this site to operate. You will never receive a newsletter, sale-mail, or any other type of spam. It's that simple. If you are interested in reading the long version, please see our full privacy policy.

The PittMed Internal Medicine Interest Group (IMIG) created a comprhensive shadowing program focused on providing students direct clinical experience to parallel their coursework. The program was converted to this website in 2009 by IMIG, and expanded to encompass all fields, specialties, and available opportunities.

The Shadowbase is the first and only comprehensive directory of all shadowing, research, community service, and other open opportunities available to the PittMed students, bringing together all specialties in one centralized location. Previously, each individual specialty and interest group kept their opportunities in separate lists, with their own methods and requirements for accessing and using those lists. For a medical student exploring different fields, this was a daunting and otherwise chaotic avenue in gaining exposure.

While this database requires time by the doctor for the registration process, it should be noted that this is a one-time event that does not need yearly updates or repetitive maintenance. It was previously not unusual for doctors to continually explain to medical students where to meet them, what was needed to shadow, and restrictions of which they should be aware. With the Shadowbase, this static information is stored and provided to every students before they even respond to a post. The end result is a 5 minute registration process with a tremendous amount of time saved in each interaction.

E-mail addresses get in, but they don't get out. There is only a single e-mail address that is ever displayed on the entire site: shadowbase@pittmedicalstudents.com. This is the address the site uses to contact people for you. For this reason, it is vitally important that your spam filters recognize shadowbase@pittmedicalstudents.com as safe/trusted. If you receive such an e-mail, simply replying to it will actually contact the person who sent it through the site in the first place. Conversely, if you contact someone through this system, they will receive an e-mail from shadowbase@pittmedicalstudents.com, and clicking "Reply" will actually send you an e-mail.

Only verified UPMC employees and PittMed students can receive e-mails from this system, which maintains controlled release of your private information within a trusted network.

This site is automated to work with both the PittMed student directory and UPMC doctor directory to allow for easier registration and better information gathering. You are not required to use the information that is automatically generated, and can remove it by clicking on Account when signed in.

There are several security measures in place to ensure only registered PittMed students may register and access the information on this site. For starters, you will need to use a verified and active PittMed e-mail address. If you are still having trouble, please contact us.

There are two methods to registration. If you have received an e-mail through your department about this website, you should return to that e-mail and use the link provided to register on this site. If you have not received such a link, or you received one so long ago that it no longer works, you can still register by first verifying your e-mail address upon submitting it here. After your address is submitted, please check your inbox for a message from this site. If you don't see such a message quickly, be sure to check your spam filter and set the sender to trusted/allowable so you can receive future contacts from students through this site. If you are still having trouble, please contact us.

An Advanced Post allows you full access over the information being provided, and is available in all areas (shadowing, research, community service, employment). Specifically, you may enter a description, restrictions, and title to your post. A Quick Post is for people who wish to quickly add a shadowing opportunity without answering additional questions, based solely on their specialty.

Yes, an informative list can be found in your account activity and history, which is also linked at the top of the page. This page will also allow you to view your open and expired opportunities, and edit them.

It will automatically begin to fill itself in as you use the Shadowbase more and make interactions.

Security works both ways here. The Shadowbase respects the privacy of all users, to the full extent allowable for the purposes of this website. Student details generally contain personal contact information which is not needed unless you have or will meet with the student. For this reason, only the students who have interacted with you are displayed in your personal directory. If you need to track down another student for some reason, we recommend you contact us or a student representative who can help you with your search.

Make sure you are logged in by viewing the top of the page (just under the Shadowbase logo). The list of open opportunities is available to all users so they can quickly make decisions without logging in beforehand, but continuing onto the actual contact and details page requires a registered, signed in student authentication.

All of the doctors and contacts who are volunteering their time and services to participate in this program are incredibly busy people. Unfortunately, some of them overlook e-mails, and simply can't respond to you at this time. If you wish to verify whether your contact was successfully sent, please visit your account history for details. All successful communications are listed there.

Commenting is a method of allowing students to provide helpful information about their experience to other students. You may only make a comment on an experience after replying to and engaging in an experience. Comments are anonymous, though they should maintain a professional nature.