Health System Clinicians FAQ

In 2024, the Feinberg School of Medicine is changing its unranked Health System Clinician appointment category to a ranked track that offers a pathway to promotion. The ranks available on this track are:

• Clinical Assistant Professor
• Clinical Associate Professor
• Clinical Professor

Faculty appointed on the new HSC track will be expected to demonstrate excellence in the area of Clinical Impact and Recognition, as well as one area of concentration from among these four: education, health services management, community engagement, research.

Only individuals appointed to the Feinberg faculty as a Health System Clinician (HSC) received an email about the HSC track change. Being employed as a clinician in the health system is not the same as holding a Health System Clinician faculty appointment at the Feinberg School of Medicine. If you are a clinician in the health system and did not receive an email about the HSC track change, that means that you do not hold the HSC faculty appointment at Feinberg.

You can confirm whether you have a Health System Clinician faculty appointment by looking up your name in the Feinberg Faculty Profiles. If you find no profile, you are not on the Feinberg faculty as an HSC. If you do find your profile with the Health System Clinician title, it will be updated at the time of your reappointment on 9/1/2024 to display the rank of Clinical Assistant Professor instead.

All faculty appointed with the title Health System Clinician prior to the track change will be transitioned to the rank of Clinical Assistant Professor, effective at the time of reappointment on 9/1/2024. HSCs may begin using the Clinical Assistant Professor title now; however, that title will not appear on the Feinberg Faculty Profile, NM doctor profile, or university systems until 9/1/2024, at the time of reappointment.

Physicians who are based at regional locations of Northwestern Medicine, Lurie Children's Hospital, and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (i.e., locations outside of the main Chicago campus in Streeterville) are eligible for faculty appointment as a Health System Clinician, pending approval of their chief medical officer, the Feinberg department chair and the Feinberg dean.

Physicians on the medical staff of Northwestern Medicine regional hospitals may apply for appointment as a Health System Clinician by submitting the following documents to the chief medical officer of their hospital:

• Current CV
• Personal Data Form (editable PDF) (social security number required to grant a faculty appointment)
• Candidate's Referee List
  Note: All HSC appointments require a minimum of three reference letters. The HSC candidate suggests referee names but does not solicit the letters.

Your Chief Medical Officer will review the materials you submitted. If supportive, they will recommend you for appointment to the appropriate department chair at Feinberg School of Medicine. The department chair will review the recommendation along with your CV and make a recommendation to the Feinberg dean's office. For an appointment to be granted, the department chair and dean must approve. Following approval, you will receive a letter confirming the details of your appointment.

HSC faculty must apply through Feinberg's annual promotion process to be considered for promotion to a higher rank. The promotion process for HSCs is still being defined and will be available by mid-March 2024 on the Promotion & Tenure webpage.

Health System Clinicians have one-year appointment terms and are eligible for reappointment annually.

Each summer, department chairs and Northwestern Medicine chief medical officers are asked to review Health System Clinician appointments to ensure physicians are in good standing at their clinical practice locations and remain eligible for continued appointment.

The Health System Clinician appointment at the Feinberg School of Medicine is expected to be your primary academic appointment. You may only hold a faculty appointment at another institution if it is an adjunct appointment.

Health System Clinicians are subject to Feinberg and Northwestern University policies such as the Safe and Healthy Learning Environment, Email Forwarding Policy and Conflict of Interest/Disclosure and Professional Integrity Policy. For more information, review our Policies & Handbooks page.

Health System Clinicians are unpaid by the Feinberg School of Medicine, so are not eligible for medical, dental, retirement or tuition benefits through Northwestern University. They are employed by clinical affiliates of the Feinberg School of Medicine, so please check with your employer regarding benefits eligibility.

Health System Clinician appointments confer certain university privileges, including access to the Galter Health Sciences Library and a Wildcard, which offers discounts at local businesses. Health System Clinicians are also featured in Feinberg faculty profiles.

After your appointment as an Health System Clinician is approved, you will receive a university netID that can be used to access the Galter Library:

• Go to the Galter Library website.
• Click on the link that says "sign in to access resources."
• Enter your netID and password.

View our FAQ page if you have questions about finding or activating your netID and password.