Feinberg School of Medicine 
| Programs in Healthcare Quality
Following the release of the Institute of Medicine’s reports, “To Err is Human” and “Crossing the Quality Chasm,” there has been a tremendous increase in interest in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety. There is a new and growing need for clinical and administrative healthcare professionals to develop expertise and leadership in these fields. These relatively new disciplines have emerged as central to the development of good healthcare, and require acquisition of substantive knowledge and skills. The goal of these programs is to provide formal education in these fields. These programs will enable clinicians and senior health professionals to become effective healthcare quality and patient safety thinkers, practitioners, and researchers and will provide the basis for leadership in these fields.
| Center for Healthcare Equity
The Center for Healthcare Equity is dedicated to the elimination of health care disparities. Our goal is for every person to get the highest quality of healthcare possible, regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, cultural beliefs, language, socioeconomic status, or health literacy. We have outstanding multidisciplinary research programs and educational initiatives that include affiliated faculty in the Program in Communication and Medicine, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Department of Preventive Medicine, the Office of Medical Education, and other faculty from across the Feinberg School of Medicine. We have also had active partnerships with researchers and policymakers from the American Medical Association, the Health Research and Educational Trust, and many community clinics. Patients are also our partners, and they have provided invaluable insights into the challenges they face and suggestions about designing interventions. Together, we conduct studies that examine the root causes of disparities and evaluate innovative solutions that will help us achieve our ideal of equal health care for all.
| Center for Patient Safety
The mission of the Northwestern Center for Patient Safety (CPS) is to enhance patient safety by conducting innovative research and providing creative education through interdisciplinary collaboration with affiliated institutions. The Center consists of a diverse group of healthcare professionals and other individuals dedicated to improving patient care by disseminating scholarly research and fostering the exchange of information regarding patient safety both locally and nationally.
| Health Economics Center
The Health Economics Center (HEC) in the Institute for Healthcare Studies was established in August of 2007 and is comprised of a group of health economists at Northwestern University. The HEC provides a centralized and recognizable resource to support health economic research within the medical school community. Investigators in the HEC are available to serve as collaborators on research projects and provide support for health economic analyses. The types of services that can be provided range from pre-funding to post-funding activities. Services can be provided on a collaborative basis where the effort required for health economic support is included in a grant submission or on a consultative basis with an hourly fee. Initial consultations to learn more about the HEC or to discuss the role of a health economist for a research project are free of charge.
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The Institute for Healthcare Studies at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University offers two-year post-doctoral research fellowships in health services research, funded by a National Research T32 Service Award (NRSA). This program is integrated with a National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) post-doctoral institutional training grant, and both a PhD and MD post-doctoral program in health services research sponsored by the Midwest Center for Health Services and Policy Research (MCHSPR), Hines VA Hospital.
The purpose of the Northwestern University Health Services Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship is to help ensure that adequate numbers of highly trained individuals are available to carry out the Nation's health services research agenda in order to improve quality and safety of health care, enhance access and healthcare equity, and appraise the effectiveness of healthcare expenditures.
| Their mission is to advance the study of limited health literacy and interventions that could improve one’s ability to obtain, process, and understand basic information needed to make appropriate health decisions. This is a groundbreaking effort; Northwestern is the first institution in the country to link the fields of medicine and education in order to improve how health systems educate patients and families on their health. In a reciprocal manner, this Health Literacy and Learning Program (HeLP) envisions opportunities to better inform curriculum in schools and other informal learning settings on health promotion and empowerment.
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