Discipline: Allopathic Medicine PI/PD: Monica Vela MD, (312) 996-4493, Email: mvela@uic.edu Target URM: Hispanic Target Audience: Students and Faculty The University of Illinois College Of Medicine (UI COM) will address health disparities driven by 1) Hispanic underrepresentation in physician workforce (5% versus 18.7% of the U.S. population1), 2) poor access to culturally and linguistically concordant health services, and 3) divestment of Hispanic neighborhoods. Racialized violence in the United States and the protracted COVID19 pandemic have had deleterious impacts that will be longstanding and profound. Addressing the mental health of providers and financial literacy of students is critical. We aim to 1) increase the capacity of the UI COM to be the state-wide leader in developing, educating and training Hispanic physicians that contribute to a nationally diverse quality health care workforce 2) serve as a model center delivering innovative programs that recruit and promote underrepresented minority (URM) students 3) nurture culturally responsive medical students educated on minority health and the social determinants of health, 4) facilitate research related to health disparities and health equity. The HCOE will: (1) Expand a competitive URM applicant pool by increasing the number of eligible Hispanic COM applicants; (2) Enhance student performance by supporting mentorship and academic needs of students as well as promote mental health and financial literacy (3) Promote URM faculty development to increase retention and promotion (4) Develop cultural humility and responsiveness, language concordant care and advocacy skills of all; 5) Facilitate faculty and student health equity research (6) Engage students in community based care delivery programs (7) provide stipends to selected students and faculty in our structured programs to support participation and disseminate research. The HCOE will (1) Deliver structured mentorship and acad
emic programs to serve 250 high school and college students each year; (2) Provide individualized study plans and standardized exam skills to 50 students per year; (3) Incorporate cognitive behavioral therapy and other resilience building activities across all programming to support mental health (4) Implement a 2-year Hispanic Faculty Development Fellowship for 2 junior faculty per year across all departments (5) Deliver curriculum to improve linguistic and cultural competence of medical students and inter-professional education electives (6) Offer 8-week summer research program for 10 rising M2 students and 10 undergraduates; and (7) Student leadership training. The HCOE collaborate with other units in the COM (Dept. of Medical Education, COM at Rockford, other departments, Admissions, etc.), other UIC units (HSI-STEM Program, LARES, etc.), and external partners (Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, Illinois Reach Out and Read, Pilsen Food Pantry, and various other community agencies). 1. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html