Each fellow will partner with a community-based organization on a project tackling pressing health equity challenges
NEW YORK, NY, October 16, 2024—United Hospital Fund has selected eight clinician leaders to join the inaugural cohort of the Health Equity Fellowship, a program designed to cultivate the next generation of health equity changemakers in New York.
The eight fellows—who come from diverse backgrounds and represent renowned New York health care institutions—will complete an 18-month learning experience aimed at deepening their leadership capacities and implementing an Action Learning Project (ALP) that tackles pressing health equity challenges. Each fellow will partner with a community-based organization (CBO) and collaborate on an innovative project that moves beyond a narrow clinical focus to creatively advance care, reduce health disparities, and improve health outcomes within their served community.
“United Hospital Fund is thrilled to partner with eight leaders on the unique opportunity to shape the future of health equity and health care in New York with our inaugural Health Equity Fellowship cohort,” said UHF President and CEO Oxiris Barbot, MD. “This fellowship will leverage the capacity of individuals, their communities, and the power of collective leadership to drive real systems change.”
Applications for the Health Equity Fellowship were open between June and August to early- to mid-career clinicians working in the greater New York City area. To be eligible for the fellowship, applicants were required to spend at least 40 percent of their time doing clinical work and be members of the community they serve or have a proximate relationship to those communities.
Fellows' action learning projects span a range of health equity issues, from expanding health care access for immigrants, to improving chronic disease management, addressing food insecurity for underserved populations, and integrating holistic approaches like yoga and meditative journaling into clinical care.
The 2024-2026 fellows, their home institutions, and CBO partners are:
- Omega Augustus, MSN, RN, CPXP (One Brooklyn Health; Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health)
- Micaela Bayard, MD (Mount Sinai/Mount Sinai Queens; Lupus and Allied Diseases Association, Inc.)
- Joshua Amit Budhu, MD, MS, MPH (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York Immigration Coalition)
- Chanelle M. Diaz, MD, MPH (NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons; Make the Road)
- Gwendolyne Anyanate Jack, MD, MPH (NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medicine - Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism; Word of Life International, Inc.)
- Monique Collier Nickles, MD (NYC H+H/Lincoln Medical Center; Public Health Solutions)
- Fehintola Orisamolu, DNP, CPNP (NewYork-Presbyterian/Brooklyn Methodist Hospital; Sickle Cell/Thalassemia Patients Network)
- Pascale M. White, MD, MBA, MS, FACG (Mount Sinai Hospital; Boriken Neighborhood Health Center)
Fellows will kick off their work with a retreat on October 28 and 29. The program’s curriculum centers around the guiding principles of equity, action for systems change, and collective leadership.
“We are committed to listening to and amplifying the voices of those most directly affected by health inequities through this fellowship,” said Camila Pazos Fajardo, director of the program. “I am looking forward to a space where fellows can learn and partner with each other and the communities they serve to reimagine a health care delivery system that’s more just and equitable.”
The Health Equity Fellowship is funded by United Hospital Fund with support from the Freedom Together Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund.
The program builds on United Hospital Fund’s extensive experience developing fellowship programs. For 15 years, UHF and the Greater New York Hospital Association have run the Clinical Quality Fellowship Program, which has trained more than 300 mid-career physicians, nurses, and physician assistants from over 50 health care facilities in the New York metropolitan area to become quality improvement and patient safety leaders in their organizations. In addition, UHF’s Pediatrics for an Equitable Developmental Start (PEDS) Learning Network Fellowship Program worked with pediatricians to transform pediatric primary care in ways that will improve early childhood development and reduce health disparities.
Find full bios and photos of the inaugural cohort, along with descriptions of their action learning projects, and learn more about the Health Equity Fellowship here.
About United Hospital Fund
United Hospital Fund works to build an effective and equitable health care system for every New Yorker. An independent, nonprofit organization, we are a force for improvement, analyzing public policy to inform decision-makers, finding common ground among diverse stakeholders, and developing and supporting innovative programs that improve health and health care. We work to dismantle barriers in health policy and health care delivery that prevent equitable opportunities for health. For more on our initiatives and programs please visit our website at www.uhfnyc.org and follow us on LinkedIn, X., Instagram, and Facebook.
About the Freedom Together Foundation:
Freedom Together supports people who have been denied power to build it, so they can change unjust systems and create a more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable society.
About The Commonwealth Fund:
The Commonwealth Fund is a national, private foundation based in New York City that supports independent research on health care issues and makes grants to improve health care practice and policy.