Cleveland State University and Northeast Ohio Medical University
Cleveland State University (CSU) has partnered with Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) to pioneer an innovative, evidence-based model of medical and health professional education that promises to broaden the diversity of the healthcare workforce. The NEOMED-CSU Partnership for Urban Health seeks to improve health outcomes for residents of traditionally underserved urban communities; reduce health disparities among neighborhoods based on racial, ethnic or economic differences; and reinvigorate the region’s stagnant economy.
The NEOMED-CSU Partnership incorporates the NEOMED-CSU Urban Primary Care Track and the Education for Service (EFS) Initiative. The Urban Primary Care Track is designed to recruit pre-medical CSU students from underserved urban neighborhoods who will advance to medical school at NEOMED. The Education for Service Initiative provides scholarships in exchange for commitment to practice in an underserved area.
The partnership has also developed the place-based Cleveland Neighborhood Model (CNM), which sends interdisciplinary teams of health professions students to local communities to promote the health of small groups of residents and their families. The experience builds longitudinal contact between students and patients and teaches students how to leverage existing community resources.
The Sullivan Alliance, a national organization devoted to improving healthcare education and increasing diversity in the health workforce, has identified the NEOMED-CSU partnership as its lead site in Ohio.
Project Team
Executive Council
- Ronald M. Berkman, Ph.D. – Co-Chair, Executive Council President, Cleveland State University
- Meredith Bond, Ph.D – Co-Principal Investigator Dean, College of Science and Health Professions (CSU)
- Jay Gershen, DDS, Ph.D. – Co-Chair, Executive Council President, Northeast Ohio Medical University
- Edgar B. Jackson, Jr., M.D. – Co-Chair, Community Advisory Board Executive-in-Residence
- The Honorable Congressman Louis Stokes, Esq. – Co-Chair, Community Advisory Board
- Jeffrey Susman, M.D. Dean, College of Medicine (NEOMED)
- Byron White, Ed.D. Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President for University Engagement (CSU)
Project Management Team
- Louis Barone School of Pharmacy (NEOMED)
- John Bazyk, MS, OTR/L Director, School of Health Sciences (CSU)
- Bette Bonder, Ph.D. Special Assistant to the Dean for the Partnership (CSU)
- Lisa P. Gaynier, M.A. Director, Diversity Management Program (CSU)
- Sonja Harris-Haywood, M.D. – Program Director Associate Dean/Associate Vice Provost for Health Affairs (NEOMED)
- Margaret (Peggy) Irwin – Project Manager Grant Writer & Administrator
- Vida Lock, MSN, Ph.D., RN Dean, School of Nursing (CSU)
- Laurie Murphy Field Coordinator (CSU)
- Shari Snyder Pollack – Project Manager Manager, NEOMED-CSU Partnership
- Erik Porfeli, Ph.D – Co-Principal Investigator Assistant Dean for Community Engagement and Admissions (CSU & NEOMED)
- Richard Rakos, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Faculty (CSU)
- Janice Spalding, M.D. Vice Chair, Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine (NEOMED)
- Charles Taylor, Ph.D. Dean, College of Pharmacy (NEOMED)
- Gina Weisblat, Ph.D. Director, Education for Service (NEOMED)
Data Team
- Thomas Geaghan Director of Institutional Research (CSU)
- Mike Hewitt Biostatistician (NEOMED)
- Margarita Kokinova, Ph.D Executive Director, Institutional Research (NEOMED)
- Justin Perry, Ph.D Director, Center for Urban Education (CSU)
- Lela Picket Graduate Assistant, College of Education and Human Services (CSU)
- Shane Poloha Graduate Assistant, College of Sciences and Health Professions (CSU)
- Erik Porfeli, Ph.D. – Co-Principal Investigator Assistant Dean for Community Engagement and Admissions (CSU & NEOMED)
- John Walsh, Ph.D Director of IT and Professor of Mathematics (CSU)