Program Structure

Administrative Fellowship Program Structure

The Administrative Fellowship Program is a 2-year fellow-directed experience that can be described as a “build your own adventure” fellowship as it allows the fellow to tailor the experience based on specific interests and desired experiences. The fellowship is project-based with fellows leveraging their networking skills to find project assignments. Project availability and focus areas depend on current organizational and departmental goals. A full time management opportunity at NM may arise at any point over the course of the 1st  or early in the 2nd year of the Program allowing the Fellow the autonomy to pursue these roles.

The fellow will be matched with a VP and Director Mentor who are assigned based on the career goals and interest of the fellow. The VP and Director mentor help the fellow vet projects, and develop professional goals. The fellow and mentors meeting cadence is at the discretion of the fellow and can vary from weekly to monthly. In addition, the fellow will have monthly meetings with the Executive Sponsor, Jennifer Bloomquist, and Fellowship Manager, Erin Cohan. Fellows will also get the opportunity to meet with system leaders at all levels of the organization.

The first 60 days of the first year are spent gaining an understanding of the broad spectrum of hospital and system departments through shadowing and informational interviews. The fellow will then proceed to get involved in projects embedded in various departments throughout the system, as determined by both personal interests as well as institutional need. Projects are often selected from current organizational priorities, such as business development, strategic planning, hospital operations and community service. Some examples of past fellowship projects and experiences include the following:

• Improving Radiology Turnaround Time in the NMH Emergency Department
• Increasing the % of First Case on Time Starts (FCOTS) in the Operating Rooms
• Current State Analysis of Procedure Suite Utilization
• Improving the Breast Cancer Patient Journey
• Increasing Access to Diagnostic Imaging Services across the System
• Reducing Agency Staffing
• Growth and Expansion Modeling with Strategy Team
• Implementation and Physician Training of Ambient Listening Technology
• Designing the Community Space of a new Outpatient Facility
• Implementation of a Centralized Wheelchair Program
• Serving as interim practice manager of an outpatient clinic

The fellow also engages in a 9-month process improvement training class, Improvement Leadership Training (ILT), and leads a process improvement project that may or may not be in an area of previous work.

The fellow has the ability to diversify their work experience by engaging with Northwestern Medicine’s 10 Health Network hospitals. Leveraging the diverse health network allows the fellow to gain broad exposure to both the Academic Medical Center and community hospital environments. At the conclusion of this experience, it is expected that the fellow will have expanded their professional network and developed a thorough understanding of hospital operations and health-system dynamics beyond Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the system’s flagship hospital in Downtown Chicago.

This broad exposure, extensive project work, and expanded professional network prepare fellows to transition into a managerial role at Northwestern Medicine.