The Health Disparities and Leadership Scholarship Track (HDLT) is a two-year longitudinal certificate program designed to equip residents and fellows with the skills, knowledge, and experience to advance health equity through clinical practice, scholarship, and systems-level leadership. The curriculum explores the social and structural drivers of health, including poverty, housing, education, and access to care, and how these factors impact patient outcomes across diverse populations. This track is interdisciplinary and has members from many of our residency and fellowship programs.

Fellows in this track participate in a structured series of bi-monthly evening workshops and semi-annual retreats that include site visits to community organizations, FQHCs, public health agencies, and advocacy groups. The program fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and aims to deepen participants’ understanding of the local communities they serve, with a focus on building meaningful partnerships and sustainable change.

Participants are supported in developing a capstone project aligned with their interests, which may take the form of quality improvement initiatives, research, educational interventions, community-based work, or advocacy efforts. The track emphasizes mentorship, community engagement, and systems improvement, and is designed to cultivate future physician-leaders dedicated to addressing health disparities and promoting equity within and beyond the healthcare system.