UHF’s Health Equity Fellowship (HEF) program is designed to support, catalyze, and develop the next generation of health equity change-makers in New York City. Our fellows will be leaders from diverse backgrounds who work across the health care landscape to champion equity, drive systems transformation, and foster collaborative leadership.

About the Fellowship

Our fellowship is an 18-month experiential learning opportunity for cohorts of up to 12 mid-career clinicians to participate in an equity-centered curriculum that blends collaborative leadership development, policy and systems change thinking. Fellows will partner with a community-based organization (CBO) and collaborate on a project to address a specific health equity need within their served community.

Deepening Leadership Capacities Through Three Guiding Principles

Equity: We address the disproportionate impacts and systemic barriers to equitable health care for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and lower-income communities. We listen to and amplify the voices of those most directly affected by these barriers and ensure their experiences are at the center of both our fellowship and the development of policy and care model solutions.

Action for Systems Change: We reimagine what is possible and challenge the status quo. We explore the root causes of health care disparities and consider how we can shift policies, mindsets, and power dynamics in pursuit of transformational change.

Collective Leadership: We bring together clinician leaders to pursue change. As a cohort, fellows jointly envision their aspirations for a better world, make sense of their experiences and interactions that have influenced that vision, and shape their decisions and actions to produce desired results.

Curriculum Content Modules

    Leadership for Transformation
    Effective leaders assess, cultivate, and grow their leadership capacities for transformation. This module covers frameworks and practices that support building the individual and cohort’s capacity, considering both the technical and relational dimensions necessary to engage in leadership work that paves the way toward transformational change. Content will also highlight the importance of attending to the emotional well-being of individuals driving change processes, including that of the fellows.
    Shifting and Sharing Power
    Traditionally, leadership is often viewed as the work of a single individual “hero.” This module refers to content that shifts the current thinking about the role of change-makers in ways that center communities and the work of the collective in pursuit of systems change. Understanding how power is leveraged moves from the individual to also include the cohort, the community, and the collective.
    Reimagining Health Equity in Health Care
    To change a major system, one must first understand it. This module is focused on providing opportunities for a deeper exploration and examination of the role of health care in the broader health ecosystem. This includes how the health care system works, key players, main issues, and opportunities to eliminate barriers to health equity.

    Fellowship Experience

    Programming is designed to consider the busy schedules of clinician leaders. Over the course of the 18 months, fellows can expect:

    • In-person cohort-building retreats every six months
    • Monthly virtual or in-person sessions
    • Mentorship and coaching
    • Experiential learning through action learning projects in collaboration with CBO partners

    Who We’re Looking For

    We are looking for doctors and nurses who:

    • Demonstrate an unwavering commitment to advancing health equity.
    • Represent a wide diversity of identities, experiences, and disciplines.
    • Are members of the communities they serve or have a proximate relationship to those communities.
    • Have demonstrated leadership potential through their work and supervisory trajectory.
    • Embrace a collective-action mindset and are eager to collaborate to shape the future of health care in New York.
    • Are excited to be part of our inaugural cohort of fellows and contribute to shaping the experience for future cohorts.

    Eligibility Requirements

    To be eligible for our fellowship, doctors and nurses must:

    • Be at a mid-career stage in their professional trajectory.
      • Doctors must be at least 5 years post-residency.
      • Nurses must have at least 10 years of experience and have already completed advanced practice degrees (such as DNP).
    • Spend at least 40% of their time doing clinical work in hospital-based or community-based settings.
    • Have an established and collaborative relationship with a CBO. Each CBO partner will receive an honorarium for collaborating on the health equity project.
    • Have support from their home institution to dedicate time and capacity to the program.
    • Fellows are expected to dedicate 20% of their time to the fellowship, with their home institutions reimbursed for the time devoted to participation

    Key Dates

    • Applications will open in Summer 2024
    • Fellowship programming will begin in Fall 2024
    • Stay tuned for additional key dates
    Health Equity Fellowship Team
    Camila Pazos Fajardo
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    Camila Pazos Fajardo

    Camila (ella/she) serves as Director for the United Hospital Fund’s Health Equity Fellowship, a strategic initiative seeking to support and empower the next generation of health equity change-makers in New York City. Working closely with the President and CEO as well as the Senior Vice President of Policy and Program, Camila leads all stages of program design, development, and launch while also managing operations for the fellowship.

    Camila is an advocate for systemic, transformational, and justice-oriented social innovation and has spent her career focused on providing leadership development opportunities and access to capital to early-stage leaders committed to building a more just and equitable society. Before joining UHF, Camila managed programmatic investments at Echoing Green, a leading organization that runs fellowship programs for emerging and established social innovators worldwide. As the Director of Investments, she designed and scaled Echoing Green’s global grantmaking process, including applicant recruitment and fellow selection, and distributed nearly $20 million to the organization’s fellows during her tenure. Prior to Echoing Green, Camila worked on program operations, curriculum delivery, and partnerships at the Young Entrepreneurs for Leadership and Sustainability.

    Camila is a graduate of the University of Florida where she earned a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Development Practice (MDP), a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. She also holds graduate certifications in public health and tropical conservation and development.

    Camila was born in Colombia, raised in South Florida, and has been a proud Queens resident for almost a decade where she can be found exploring its unique corners with her husband and child.

    Gabriela Groenke
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    Gabriela Groenke

    Gabriela began her journey with UHF in 2015, providing administrative support to the Program and Policy department. In 2022, Gabriela transitioned to the Clinical Community Partnerships team, where she took on the role of program manager. In this capacity, she spearheaded initiatives aimed at advancing early childhood literacy and health equity. Presently, Gabriela brings her expertise to the Health Equity Fellowship team, continuing her role as a program manager. Additionally, she serves as a facilitator for UHF's Diversity and Inclusion Strategies working group and is a valued member of the Board Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion working group, championing diversity efforts within the organization.

    Before joining UHF Gabriela was Executive and Project Assistant at Scholastic Media, where she provided administrative support to executives and assisted on special projects related to the company’s reading app.

    Gabriela holds a Master’s degree in Liberal Studies from The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and a Bachelor of Arts from Long Island University.