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The RUSH-Esperanza Family Medicine Residency will enhance the health of individuals, families, and historically oppressed communities through the training of outstanding family physicians and other healthcare clinicians in diverse settings. The residency will foster a commitment to clinical excellence through team-based care, innovation, and population health through a lens of social justice and scientific advancement. Through community partnerships and innovative multidisciplinary curricula, the residency will serve as a national leader and resource for transforming healthcare to achieve equity in health and well-being.

Program aims

  • Train family medicine physicians in multidisciplinary teams in a FQHC to care for patients from historically oppressed communities who are most severely impacted by health inequities
  • Train family physicians with knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide excellent full spectrum family medicine to patients and families recognizing that this includes factors related to social and political determinants of health
  • Prepare family physicians with the commitment, dedication, and knowledge to become leaders of healthcare reform and innovation

The events of the past years, both COVID-19’s disproportionate impact to the black and brown communities we serve, as well as the racial reckoning highlighted by the murder of George Floyd and others have reminded us how systemic racism and other social and structural determinants of health compound the preexisting inequities in chronic disease mortality that contribute to the striking gaps in life expectancy in Chicago, the nation and world. RUSH believes health is a human right. We’ve set a strategic priority for promoting equity both inside and outside of our institution serving the needs of all our stakeholders: our people, patients, learners, communities and organization. The RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity reflects RUSH’s commitment to achieving health equity. The Family Medicine residency is at the cutting edge of this equity strategy, connecting RUSH to the community and the community to RUSH.  Not only will you practice in a community based setting mentored by skilled RUSH faculty members but as trainees you will learn the skills necessary to address community conditions at the root of health inequities. Come join our team. 

- David Ansell, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President for Community Health Equity, RUSH University Medical Center
Co-Executive Sponsor, RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity

The RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity (RBIHE) was launched in May 2021 and built on a bi-directional model of engagement between the community and RUSH. The Institute serves to train, convene, incubate, accelerate, evaluate and sustain scalable approaches that improve health and eliminate health inequities through the integration of community partnerships, education, clinical practice, research and policy. The RUSH Family Medicine residency at Esperanza is aligned with RBIHE’s mission to teach and develop our future leaders and providers with the skills to prevent, identify and treat structural, social, and medical determinants of health by providing access to primary care in an underserved community setting integrated with one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. RUSH’s comprehensive approach will ensure your training provides you with the experiences and tools to innovate and create the changes needed to achieve health equity.

- Susan L. Freeman, MD, MS, Provost and Senior Vice President, RUSH University
Co-Executive Sponsor, RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity