UChicago Medicine and Pritzker School of Medicine receive AAMC's prestigious national award for community engagement

As an example of UChicago Medicine’s community engagement, the Graduate Medical Education Community Champions program works with the Urban Health Initiative to train residents to work in underserved communities, providing them with outreach, service and learning opportunities.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has presented the 2024 Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement to the University of Chicago Medicine health system and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

The prestigious national award is given annually to an AAMC-member medical school or teaching hospital with a sustaining, major institutional commitment to identify and address the community's needs through engagement, partnership and collaboration.

“By embedding community engagement into every aspect of medical education, research, and clinical care, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and UChicago Medicine have demonstrated profound commitments to improving the health and well-being of all individuals who call the South Side of Chicago home,” according to the AAMC in its announcement.

The Spencer Foreman Award recognizes how UChicago Medicine and the Pritzker School of Medicine prioritize community engagement, particularly through medical education, research and clinical care.

“Through our mission, vision and values and across all of our strategic initiatives, UChicago Medicine and the Pritzker School of Medicine are committed to advancing health equity within the communities we serve,” said Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and of the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. “We are greatly honored by this recognition from the AAMC, which reflects the values and strength of everyone within our organization and the partnerships that help inform and shape how we engage with the community.”

Medical students learn about health inequities and social determinants of health through coursework and by volunteering at six student-run free clinics and in a street-medicine outreach program. They also engage directly by participating in programs like Medical Careers Exposure and Emergency Preparedness, which exposes historically underrepresented youth to careers in medicine and has trained more than 7,000 individuals in emergency preparedness since 2018.

Earlier this year, the Pritzker School of Medicine launched The Phoenix Curriculum, an updated educational framework designed to empower students to serve as patient advocates, incorporating self-directed learning, research, clinical experience and community engagement from day one.

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 the Urban Health Initiative, UChicago Medicine’s community health division that works to improve health equity for more than 880,000 residents of Chicago’s South Side and south suburbs. Now in its fourth year, the Community Champions program trains approximately 30 residents from 12 departments annually to work in communities dealing with a disproportionate burden of chronic and serious diseases and high rates of intentional violence.

“Receiving this award validates our efforts to ensure our programs and outreach initiatives across medical education and clinical care prioritize health equity and reflect a commitment to serve our diverse communities,” said Vineet Arora, MD, MAPP, Dean for Medical Education. “We are inspired to further this important work with and for the community and encourage the next generation of healthcare professionals to grow as leaders and champions of health equity.”

Video Transcript

Hi. I'm James Williams, Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at University of Chicago Medicine. Today, we're going to take our new residents on a bus tour so they can get to know their new community. And we want to take you with us. So, let's go.

The South Side boasts a rich cultural history. It was the site of the famed 1893 World's Fair, the birthplace of Chicago blues and the one-time host to the illustrious Union stockyards.

Community engagement permeates all levels of the institution. From medical students at the Pritzker School of Medicine, to residents and fellows, to faculty.

Students are immersing themselves in the community, going out with partners and in groups to actually engage with community members. In addition, they also have the opportunity to serve in one of six student-led free clinics.

I came into the process knowing that caring for the South Side community had been the highlight of my medical school education.

Graduate medical trainees, too, embed themselves in the South Side community, starting with their history lesson on wheels.

I'm sure when you tell folks you were getting ready to do your medical residency in Chicago, I bet they said like, “What?” but you know. Yeah, some folks had something to say, I'm pretty sure.

Half of the people in Chicago who live in food deserts live within our community service area.

You're on the bus with me. Count how many places you think you can buy an heirloom tomato.

Trainees and healthcare professionals at the University of Chicago work in partnership with individuals and organizations in the community to understand their unique needs and design programs and opportunities to address them.

UChicago Medicine's GME, Community Champions Program is one of a kind.

Every three years we conduct community health needs assessments. Our community has identified three priority health needs.

Mental health as number one. Next thing was violent crime. Next thing was access to healthy food. And then after that, it was diabetes and obesity.

One of the things I think that's very important when you work in healthcare is realizing you are, you serve the community, but you're part of the community and you have to work in the community. You have to understand what the community needs.

Specific programs and interventions are informed by community feedback, immersion in the community and organized groups like the University of Chicago Community Advisory Council.

As part of the community – we – it's essential that we listen to the voices of our community. We do that in various ways.

We do a lot to make sure that we are listening and hearing our community. We have a longstanding Community Advisory Council.

As the South Side community continues to evolve, so, too, will the University of Chicago's commitment to it.

At UChicago Medicine and the Pritzker School of Medicine, faculty, students, residents, staff and community partners routinely work together on research to develop, implement, and evaluate programs and initiatives to address community health concerns. Through the Institute for Translational Medicine, a collaborative program funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, UChicago Medicine partners with Rush University Medical Center and other institutions to discover solutions to improve health. The institute and UChicago Medicine host educational seminars held throughout the community that cover community-identified topics of interest. Since 2010, more than 60 of these “Community Grand Rounds” events have convened with over 5,000 participants.

In clinical care, UChicago Medicine partners with community leaders and organizations to address community-wide health concerns. This includes UChicago Medicine’s Community Advisory Council, made up of community leaders who volunteer to provide counsel on health priorities such as chronic disease, maternal and child health, trauma care, violence prevention, and needs to address social determinants of health. Driven by the Council’s input, UChicago Medicine opened a Level 1 adult trauma center in 2018, which has served more than 19,000 patients from the surrounding area, including providing wraparound services to individuals through its Violence Recovery Program.

In addition, as a founding member of the South Side Healthy Community Organization, a collective and coordinated network of 13 local healthcare organizations including safety-net hospitals, health systems and Federally Qualified Health Centers, UChicago Medicine uses its resources to better connect existing health organizations, increase access to care and improve health outcomes for South Side residents.

“The AAMC award reminds us that institutions and the communities they serve are stronger when they learn from one another and work together,” said Tom Jackiewicz, President of the University of Chicago Health System. “We couldn’t be prouder of this achievement and are grateful for the close bonds and partnerships we’ve developed with community leaders and organizations across the South Side, thanks in large part to the leadership of our Chief Equity Officer, Brenda Battle.”

On October 30, the AAMC will officially recognize UChicago Medicine and the Pritzker School of Medicine in a virtual ceremony featuring honorees in all categories. The Spencer Foreman Award includes a $10,000 prize for extraordinary social commitment.

The AAMC Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement highlights community engagement as an important element of the academic mission and identifies institutions that serve as exemplars of social responsiveness on the part of the academic medical community. The award was renamed in 2007 to honor Spencer “Spike” Foreman, MD, who established the award in 1993 while serving as chair of the AAMC.

Founded in 1876, the AAMC represents 171 accredited U.S. and Canadian medical schools, more than 400 teaching hospitals and health systems, and over 70 academic societies. It is dedicated to transforming health through medical education, healthcare, medical research, and community collaborations.