University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and UChicago Medicine
By embedding community engagement into every aspect of medical education, research, and clinical care, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (Pritzker) and UChicago Medicine (UCM) have demonstrated profound commitments to improving the health and well-being of all individuals who call the South Side of Chicago home.
At Pritzker and UCM, learners engage with the community throughout the medical education continuum. Medical students learn about health inequities and social determinants of health directly from community members through required coursework, volunteering at six student-run free clinics and through a street medicine outreach program, and participating in programs like the Medical Careers Exposure and Emergency Preparedness program, which exposes historically underrepresented youth to careers in medicine and has trained over 7,000 individuals in emergency preparedness since 2018. At the graduate medical education level, residents across multiple specialties collaborate with community members to address health needs through the Graduate Medical Education Community Champions program in partnership with UCM’s Urban Health Initiative.
The impact of the institutions’ community engagement efforts has left an indelible impression on students. At Pritzker and UCM, learners understand that “providing excellent health care is not only informed by clinical teaching but through community engagement so that as physicians, we can contextualize the health needs of our patients to provide better treatment,” says Amani Allen, a third-year medical student.
Faculty, learners, and community partners also regularly collaborate on research to develop, implement, and evaluate programs and initiatives to address community-identified concerns. For example, the Institute for Translational Medicine, a National Institutes of Health Clinical Translational Science Award-funded program, partners with Rush University Medical Center and other institutions to discover solutions to improve health. The institute, in concert with UCM’s Urban Health Initiative, hosts Community Grand Rounds, bidirectional educational seminars on community-identified topics of interest. Since 2020, over 60 sessions have convened with more than 5,000 participants.
Likewise, in clinical care, UCM leverages its multisector partnerships to address community-wide health concerns. Driven by the input of its Community Advisory Council, UCM opened a Level I trauma center in 2018, which has served over 18,000 patients from the surrounding area, including providing wraparound services to individuals impacted by violence through its Violence Recovery Program. And as a member of the South Side Healthy Community Organization (SSHCO), a network of community leaders and health care organizations, UCM leverages its resources, including the use of its electronic health record, to monitor and improve health outcomes across the service areas of SSHCO’s 13 member organizations.
The impact of UCM’s engagement is highlighted by SSHCO’s CEO, Kimberly Hobson: “I am certain that without the significant contributions and collaboration with UCM, we would not have [an] impact on the South Side of Chicago.”