Dan Fulwiler, MPH
President and CEO, Esperanza Health Centers
Welcome to the Rush-Esperanza Family Medicine Residency. We are thrilled that you are interested in learning more about the program and embarking on the next chapter of your family medicine training with us.
Started in 2004 as a small community health center with only three providers, Esperanza today is one of the most respected Federally Qualified Health Centers in the nation, with five clinical sites across the primarily-Latino neighborhoods of Chicago’s West and Southwest sides. We provide accessible and bilingual care in pediatrics, adult medicine, gynecology, obstetrics, behavioral health, psychiatry and other specialties to more than 45,000 patients annually, and have earned the prestigious National Quality Leader Award from HRSA on four occasions since 2016, a distinction received by fewer than 3% of FQHCs each year and a testament to our passion for quality care and innovation.
But it is our commitment to addressing deep-seated health inequities that truly sets Esperanza – and our partnership with Rush University Medical Center - apart. Both our institutions share a fundamental commitment to tackling the health disparities our communities face and strengthening the lower-income neighborhoods of Chicago’s West and Southwest sides. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Esperanza deployed one of the most ambitious pandemic response strategies in the city of Chicago, delivering more than 60,000 COVID-19 tests and 140,000 vaccine doses almost entirely to brown and black residents of the Southwest side. Esperanza is now building on that success, leading health equity efforts in the neighborhoods of Brighton Park – home of our Family Medicine Residency program – and Pilsen. Here, we’re setting our sights on the myriad other health inequities our patients face, from diabetes and breast cancer to asthma and HIV.
Our Family Medicine Residency Program is central to that effort. As part of the Esperanza family, you’ll gain the skills, understanding and experience to become outstanding practitioners of family medicine in a community health setting and more effective advocates for the patients you serve. I hope you’ll read on and learn more about what Esperanza and Rush have to offer.