Institution: University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry Address: 808 S. Paulina, Room 104 – Chicago IL 60612 Director: Darryl D. Pendleton (312) 996-1670 Fax: (312) 996-9050 E-Mail: Dpendle@uic.edu Project Title: UIC Urban Health Program Health Careers Pathway Program (UIC HCPP) Grant Program Funds Requested: $3,250,000 ABSTRACT Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) are prevalent nationwide and Illinois is no exception. The persistent maldistribution of physicians, dentists and public health practitioners in Illinois is a microcosm of the state of healthcare in America. The lack of health professionals in the State has had devastating impacts on urban and rural communities. A key challenge that Illinois faces is an insufficient pool of qualified diverse students to enroll in health professions programs and, ultimately, serve their communities. Statewide, there are significant barriers to higher education, particularly for Environmentally and/or Economically Disadvantaged students, further contributing to health inequities. The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Health Sciences Colleges across its central and regional campuses (Peoria and Rockford) have a long-standing commitment to strengthening the health professions pipeline for disadvantaged students through recruitment and retention. Past success with HRSA and institutional-funded initiatives illustrates the UIC Health Sciences College’s strong track record of successfully matriculating and training students to serve in Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). The University of Illinois Chicago Urban Health Program Health Careers Pathway Program (UIC HCPP) will focus on the recruitment of Environmentally and/or Economically Disadvantaged PreHealth High School, Undergraduate, Adult Learner and/or Veteran students into health professions schools. Across the five-year grant period, UIC HCPP will serve a total of 775 program participants across structured and unstructured prog
rams, and a total of 77,500 community-based site experience hours in MUAs will be held. Over 1000 individuals -specifically high school students and higher education advisors- will be served over the five-year grant period via two conferences: The Illinois Health Careers Conference for high school students, and Illinois Health Professions Advisors and Partners Conference for advisors. The UIC HCPP’s flagship program will be the Ambassadors Program which consists of a six-week structured summer program for PreHealth Undergraduate students enrolled at two- or four-year colleges/universities in Illinois. Additional structured programs will include a 25-week academic-year Saturday Ambassador Academy and a six-week summer Pre-Matriculation Program for PreHealth Undergraduates, as well as a 25-week Saturday Prep for Health Careers Academy for High School students. Both the Ambassadors Program and Pre-Matriculation Program will intentionally target and serve the large number of PreHealth Undergraduate and Non-Traditional students at UIC, many of whom come from Illinois HPSAs. Per a Grow-Your-Own mindset, the ultimate outcomes of our proposed UIC HCPP programmatic components are to: 1) Expand the pool of diverse qualified candidates within the State of Illinois; 2) Increase program participants’ competitiveness to gain entry to a health professions school; 3) Assist them with the transition into professional school; 4) Foster program participants’ development after matriculation and; 5) Train them to become culturally competent practitioners serving in HPSAs in Illinois.