International and Domestic Health Equity and Leadership (IDHEAL)
About IDHEAL
IDHEAL stands for “International and Domestic Health Equity and Leadership” and is a section of the All-UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine formed in 2016. The mission of the section is to define and promote the role that academic emergency medicine can play in the promotion of health equity and the elimination of health disparities, locally, nationally and globally. To do so, we address the social, economic, environmental, and legal determinants of health by partnering with nontraditional allies, such as community-based organizations, to understand and treat patients in the context of their communities and their lives.
Institutions
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center is a public safety net hospital serving the two million residents living in the San Fernando Valley, located at the northern section of Los Angeles County. OV-UCLA is a major teaching affiliate of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA with medical students, residents, and fellows spending a significant portion of their training at OV-UCLA. Residents of the UCLA Emergency Medicine residency program spend 50% of their training at OV-UCLA. The hospital has 377 beds, while the 25,000 square foot Emergency Department, which was built in 2011, has 51 beds. The ED census is roughly 60,000 patients per year. The majority of patients are working poor, immigrants, and/or primarily Spanish-speaking.
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is crucial safety net hospital serving more than 700,000 residents in the South Bay of Los Angeles. Our high-volume, high-acuity Emergency Department sees approximately 90,000 annual patient visits from a largely underserved population. It is the only Level 1 Trauma Center, Pediatric Trauma Center, Pediatric Critical Medical Center, Disaster Resource Center, Stroke Center, Academic STEMI Receiving Center, and Nursing and Paramedic Training Center in the South Bay of Los Angeles. In addition to its essential role in patient care, Harbor-UCLA is a key teaching hospital for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and has a decades-long history of advancing medical science and care delivery.
Objectives and Description of the Fellowship
The objective of this fellowship is to produce leaders in academic emergency medicine who have the appropriate academic, research, public health and advocacy tools to successfully embark on a career devoted to the reduction of health disparities. This includes an understanding of how social forces impact health on the local, national, and international level. The fellowship is two years and combines the academic strengths and opportunities of the UCLA Westwood campus with clinical opportunities to work with underserved populations at both Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, public hospitals under the umbrella of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. UCLA has a vast number of resources available to support fellows in obtaining relevant skills in public health, health services research, and global health. Fellows are welcome to participate in the faculty’s ongoing projects as a mechanism of learning these skills and perspectives, but we also welcome fellowship candidates who have their own projects in initial stages that need mentorship to grow. Competitive funding opportunities are available, especially for those projects that align with implementation science and learning health systems.
Curriculum
The Curriculum aims to develop skill sets required to succeed at health equity and population health related projects. This includes two categories of skills- those necessary to understand questions of health equity, the background of the social forces that impact health, and general academic skills that are necessary to compete for funding, evaluate interventions, and present results. Depending on the fellow’s interest, an individual academic plan will be developed between the fellow and mentor that suits the goals of the fellow. Fellows will complete a two-year master’s program. Options include the MPH or the MSHPM. This will be continually revised during mentor meetings (which occur every two weeks) to assure that objectives are achieved by the end of the fellowship. The core of each fellow’s curriculum will focus on the following eight elements:
- Academic Writing/Grant Writing
- Public Speaking
- Project Design
- Research Methodology
- Advocacy
- Foundations in Social Determinants
- Leadership
- Health Policy
Clinical responsibilities
Clinical sites for the fellows are Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center which are public institutions that care primarily for the underserved. Both institutions are teaching facilities with Emergency Medicine residents and medical students. Fellows will supervise these groups of trainees on most clinical shifts.
Academic responsibilities
At a minimum, fellows must:
- Develop one grand rounds lecture on their topic of focus.
- Complete one piece of publication-quality academic writing.
- Develop either an original idea into a feasible project or a sub-section of an ongoing project and see the project to fruition. This includes determining the methodology and appropriate outcome measurement, writing the IRB application, initiating the data collection, analyzing the data, and writing the results for publication.
- Participate in regular section meetings and journal clubs.
- Contribute to the mentorship team for medical students and residents interested in health equity.
Evaluation process
Fellows will have an assigned mentor from within the section, based on area of interest. Meetings with the mentor will take place every two weeks to be certain the fellow is on track to meet their goals. In addition, each fellow will have an advisory committee comprised of two other members of the section and one additional faculty member of the fellow’s choice. This committee will meet at 6-month intervals taking into consideration project progress, writing samples, public speaking, and resident teaching evaluations and clinical evaluations to present the fellow with written feedback regarding their progress toward preparation as academic faculty.
Program Faculty
The fellowship program is co-directed by Kabir Yadav, MDCM, MS, MSHS, FACEP at Harbor-UCLA and Breena Taira, MD, MPH, CPH, FACEP at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Please see a complete list of IDHEAL faculty.
Compensation
We offer competitive compensation, including salary, benefits, a master’s degree, a UCLA appointment, CME account and access to all university academic resources.
Apply
Application Deadline: September 15th
Please send a letter of interest describing your goals for the fellowship, your current CV, and three letters of recommendation including one from your residency program director and one from your current department chair to:
Nathalia Rodriguez
Fellowship Coordinator
NathaliaERodriguez@mednet.ucla.edu
Requirements for eligibility
Completion of an ACGME accredited Emergency Medicine Residency Program and be board certified/board eligible in Emergency Medicine. Candidates must have either completed a four-year residency or, if from a three-year residency must also have more than 1 year of post residency clinical experience. Applicants must be licensed to practice medicine in the state of California before the start date of the fellowship. Preference will be given to those applicants with a track record of dedication to academic pursuits related to the promotion of health equity and population health, whether domestic or international.
Questions about the fellowship?
Please feel free to reach out to us.
Kabir Yadav, MD, MDCM, MS, MSHS, FACEP
Co-Fellowship Director
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
kabir@emedharbor.edu
Breena R. Taira, MD, MPH, CPH, FACEP
Co-Fellowship Director
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
btaira@dhs.lacounty.gov
Current Fellows
Hurnan Vongsachang, MD, 2023-2025
Fellowship Alumni
Rose Diaz, MD, 2021-2023
Jesus Torres, MD, 2020-2022
Hannah Janeway, MD, 2019-2021
Hemang Acharya, MD, 2018-2020