Our neighbors, our partners.
We live our mission to improve human health beyond the individual patient. This means making a genuine commitment to meeting the needs of the diverse neighborhoods and populations we serve. Our community engagement efforts allow Feinberg to provide unique and valuable training experiences, strengthen our research and improve outcomes for our patients and communities.
Community Engagement Spotlight
Medical Students Provide Heart Disease Prevention to Underserved Chicago Communities
The Keep Your Heart Healthy program has screened over 50,000 Chicago residents since 2013, providing cardiovascular risk assessments, health counseling and community outreach to lower mortality risk and promote health equity.
Students Investigate the Value of Free and Charitable Health Clinics
The student-led Second Opinions team, in collaboration with the Illinois and Wisconsin Associations of Free and Charitable Clinics, developed a data tool to estimate the monetary value of services provided by over 75 free and charitable clinics and pharmacies across Illinois and Wisconsin.
Second-year Medical Students Help Address Food Insecurity
Feinberg medical students launched a food insecurity screening initiative at the CommunityHealth Clinic, helping patients access vital resources and address a growing health need.
Read about the food insecurity screening initiative
Scholars Program Inspires a New Generation of Physicians and Scientists
Each summer, Northwestern Medicine hosts 20 students from George Westinghouse College Preparatory High School, a public high school serving a vulnerable community on the west side of Chicago, in the Northwestern Medicine Scholars program.
Big Data for Better Health
Center for Health Information Partnerships (CHIP) and its director, Abel Kho, MD, are bringing together expertise across medicine, artificial intelligence, computer science, machine learning and more to increase use of electronic health records and improve both health care and health outcomes nationwide.
How We Engage
Youth Programs
Early engagement is key to inspiring young learners who will become tomorrow's scientists, physicians and healthcare professionals.
Community-Engaged Research
From conducting clinical trials in the community to building engaging partnerships, we connect our scientific work to those around us.
Service Learning
Teaching students to use their expertise to benefit the community is one of our top priorities.
Our Centers
Many of the community engagement efforts at Feinberg stem from centers within the Institute for Public Health and Medicine. The Center for Community Health connects faculty with more than 500 community organizations and community primary care practices to develop and conduct multidisciplinary research that addresses community health needs and health disparities. Through the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health, Feinberg students, residents and fellows connect with educational programs in Chicago and abroad to strengthen their knowledge base on global health issues.
Youth Programs
Pathway Programs to Medicine
With support and mentorship from Northwestern University's world-class faculty and talented trainees in science and medicine, young learners from communities traditionally underrepresented in medicine can explore their interests and gain valuable experience in classrooms, laboratories and even hospitals and clinics.