The Rush University Health Equity Fellowship is a 2-year fellowship combining clinical work, a Masters of Public Health (MPH) or similar degree, education in core health equity competencies, teaching and presentation opportunities, and a mentor-guided individualized area of academic focus. Graduating fellows will be well positioned to become leaders in the creation and implementation of innovative clinical care practices, research, and policies addressing the crisis of healthcare inequity.
Program highlights include:
- Fellows are considered half-time employees, and work clinically about 8 shifts per month in the emergency department. Fellows are compensated at the half-time attending salary, and will receive full benefits. Additional moonlighting options are available. Family leave time is available.
- Clinical work will be divided between the emergency departments at the Rush University Medical Center, a tertiary care hospital based in Chicago’s west side neighborhoods, and Rush Oak Park Hospital which offers a community hospital-type experience.
- Rush University Medical Center is the largest employer on Chicago's West Side. In its role as a designated anchor institute, it channels its economic power to improve the vitality of West Side neighborhoods and help residents achieve better health.
- Fellows are an integral part of the Rush Emergency Department’s thriving Division of Health Equity.
- An inter-professional faculty—comprised of physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, psychologists, and community leaders—will teach and advise fellows.
- In addition to a core curriculum in health equity, fellow are explicitly taught the skills necessary to work within—and ultimately lead—inter-professional teams, and taught how to themselves be better teachers and advocates of equitable healthcare and public health.
- Multiple teaching opportunities at the medical student, resident, and attending levels are structured into the fellowship.
- Fellows will receive guidance to focus their MPH practical work and research on existing disparities affecting vulnerable populations, and will be supported by the emergency department's research team to facilitate publications and presentations at the local and national levels.
- The fellowship partners with multiple hospital- and community-based organizations to create a robust experiential learning curriculum and to facilitate collaborations for potential research and scholarly projects. These include the Chicago Department of Public Health, West Side United, Center to Transform Health and Housing, Food as Medicine, Night Ministry for unhoused youth and adults, Healing Hurt People Chicago, and the Substance Use Intervention Team, among others.
Application Process
- Interested applicants must submit a letter of intent, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of recommendation to Timothy Gallagher, MD at timothy_gallagher@rush.edu. Interviews will be scheduled after the applications have been reviewed.
- If you are interested, please reach out in advance to discuss our program and see if we might be the right fit for you.