Rural Health Leadership Fellowship

Background

The Rural Health Leadership Fellowship represents part of an effort by Massachusetts General Hospital's Department of Medicine and Division of General Internal Medicine to partner with rural communities to meet their goals for health care and health systems improvement. Our program is deeply grateful to our partner, the Sicangu Lakota Oyate, also known as the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, whose values and goals have guided the development of this fellowship program since its beginning in 2016.

Todd County, which encompasses the majority of Rosebud Reservation, is the site of the Indian Health Service’s Rosebud Service Unit, and is one of the counties with the lowest median income in the United States with unemployment hovering between 80 and 90%. Age-adjusted mortality rates are among the highest in the nation. Todd County's remote location compounds its challenges.

Values

Service, dedication and excellence.

Mission

The Rural Health Leadership Fellowship aims to:

• Develop early-career clinicians into leaders who will partner to transform health systems in rural communities
• Provide exemplary training in clinician-led health systems transformation
• Serve its partner communities with respect, humility, and sustainability
• Serve as a model for meaningful partnerships for health systems transformation

Program Structure

The Rural Health Leadership Fellowship is a full-time two-year fellowship, embedded with the award-winning Rural Medicine Program, that offers early-career physicians clinical experiences on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Key components of the fellowship include:

• A Master’s Degree in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health*
• Focused clinical time in Rosebud, South Dakota at an Indian Health Service site (~12 weeks/year)
• Clinical time in Boston attending on Mass General Brigham’s Home Hospital (4-6 weeks/year) and attending on MGH’s Internal Medicine resident teaching service (2 weeks).
• World-class curricula including the Rural Health Equity, Leadership and Advocacy Exchange (RELAX),  a learning network led by the MGH RHL Fellowship in partnership with leading US-based Global and Rural Health fellowships, and the Wicakya Wicozani (Healings Through Honesty) curriculum for healthcare workers serving the Sicangu Lakota Oyate
• Funding for elective experiences including away rotations and conference attendance
• A longitudinal, mentored capstone project tailored to fellow interests
• Career support through extensive mentorship, leadership coaching
• A vibrant and passionate network of academic and community-based health professionals across the nation

*If fellows already have an MPH or equivalent degree, funding will be offered for research or other coursework

Clinical Experience

Fellows serve clinically in Rosebud for approximately three months a year split into one- or two-week rotations, with the rest of the time spent in Boston. While in Rosebud, fellows work in inpatient and outpatient settings, sharing a primary care panel with a close-knit team of co-fellows and faculty.

The clinical partnership in Rosebud also offers opportunities for participation in and development of community-centered programs. A sampling of active efforts includes:

• Development of a primary care-based hepatitis C treatment program
• Implementation of a Reach out and Read program
• Development of a point-of-care ultrasound quality assurance program
• Development of medication assisted treatment for community members with substance use disorders
• Strengthening population health management, quality improvement efforts, and clinical workflows
• Leadership of a chronic pain and substance use disorder workgroup
• Strengthening of a community detoxification facility
• Support of burgeoning Tribal public health workforce
• Strengthening an interprofessional pediatrics simulation training initiative
• Leadership of educational curricula for staff at the facility as well as for Rosebud’s robust community health worker program
• Preceptorship and teaching of rotating students and residents from various disciplines

Join us as we help communities transform their health.

How to Apply

Applications are currently being accepted and are due October 31, 2024, for the two-year fellowship beginning July 1, 2025. Interviews are offered on a rolling basis as applications are received.  

We manage application materials electronically. Please make sure that all materials, including letters of recommendation, are emailed to the program at ruralmedicine@mgh.harvard.edu. We will confirm receipt. Please direct questions about the program or the application to Fellowship Director Stephanie Sun at swsun@mgh.harvard.edu or Fellowship Coordinator Laura Ricci at lricci@mgh.harvard.edu. 

The application requires

• A completed application form (PDF) 
• A CV 
• Three letters of recommendation, electronic or scanned, two of which are from current or past clinical supervisors 

Current Fellows 

Hema Pingali (2024-2026)

Dr. Hema Pingali (she/her) grew up in Alabama and went to college at the University of Richmond, where she received a BS in biology. She received her MD from Harvard Medical School and subsequently completed an internal medicine residency (primary care track) at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She is passionate about providing high quality primary care to under-resourced settings. She is also interested in expanding home-based care in rural communities. She joined the Rural Health Leadership Fellowship in 2024.

Associate Fellows

Sagar Raju, MD

Dr. Sagar Raju received his B.S. from Yale University where he studied biochemistry and served as a Yale Global Health Fellow. Prior to college, he spent a year working in rural India on emergency health systems design. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency at Mass General Hospital. He currently works as a med-peds hospitalist at MGH and at the Maniilaq Tribal Health Center in Kotzebue, Alaska providing clinical care and public health support for the tribal health system. Dr. Raju joined as an Associate Fellow in 2023.

Amelia Stutman, DO

Dr. Amelia Stutman, DO is a Family Medicine physician who completed her residency training at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA. Specific focuses during residency included being a part of the maternity care track, research in preconception care and an intimate partner violence screening implementation at her continuity clinic. Currently, she spends 60% of the year working clinically in Kotzebue, AK. When not working, she is adventuring in the lower 48 with family, friends and spending time with her four cats. Dr. Stutman joined as an Associate Fellow in 2023.

Faculty and Staff

Learn more about the Rural Medicine Program Staff & Faculty

Fellowship Director

Stephanie Sun, MD, MSc, MPH

Dr. Stephanie Sun is an Internal Medicine physician from a small town in Ontario, Canada. She graduated from McMaster University with a BSc in Biology with a Genetics Specialization and an MSc in Evolutionary Genetics and Bioinformatics. After a year assisting a medical mission in rural China and working with YWCA Canada supporting women fleeing situations of violence, Dr. Sun studied medicine in the Keith B. Taylor Global Scholars Programme of St. George's University. After training in England, Grenada and New York City, Dr. Sun completed residency at the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program, where she was also chief resident. Dr. Sun completed the MGH Rural Health Leadership Fellowship in 2020, an MPH in Clinical Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and has been Director of the RHL Fellowship since 2021.

Her interests are in graduate medical education, and point-of-care ultrasound. As a former varsity swimmer who competed at the Canadian 2008 Beijing Trials, she continues to enjoy time in the water and on land exploring new hikes and trails.

Core Faculty

• Matthew Tobey, MD, MPH - Director, MGH Rural Medicine Program
• Amina Chaudry, MD, MPH, MBA - Faculty (2021-present)
• Yun Li, MD, MBA - Fellow (2021-2023), Faculty (2023-present)
• Theodore Weatherwax, MD - Faculty (2023-present)
• Jean Eller, MD - Faculty (2024-present)
• Greg Yungtum, MD, MPH - Fellow (2022-2024), Faculty (2024-present)

Senior Leadership

• Nicole Lurie, MD, MPH - Senior Advisor
• Joshua P. Metlay MD, PhD - Chief of Division of General Internal Medicine

Affiliate Faculty & Staff

• Michael Sundberg, MD, MPH - Faculty (2016-present)
• Suzanne Koven, MD, MFA - Affiliate Faculty (2023-present)
• Aislinn O’Keefe, MBA - Program Manager
• Laura Ricci - Fellowship Coordinator
• Damon P. Leader Charge, MA - Sicangu Oglala Lakota, Director of Tribal Outreach, University of South Dakota, Assistant Coordinator, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine Diversity and Inclusion Office
• Tara Siebel - Leadership Coach

Fellowship Alumni

• Kristen Sparagna, MD, MPH (2022-2024) - Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine, University of Minnesota Med-Peds Hospitalist Team
• Greg Yungtum, MD, MPH (2022-2024), RMP Faculty
• Yun Li, MD, MBA (2021-2023), RMP Faculty
• Josephine Henderson Frost, MD, MPH (2019-2021) - Chief of Primary Care, White River Junction VA Medical Center; Assistant Professor, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth
• Vikas Gampa, MD, MPH (2019-2021) - Primary Care Internist, MetroHealth; Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
• Hannah Wenger, MD (2018-2020, Faculty 2020-2022) - Assistant Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
• Stephanie Sun, MD, MSc, MPH (2018-2020), RMP Faculty
• Julian A. Mitton, MD, MPH (2017-2018, Research Fellow 2019-2020) - Medical Director, Zero Overdose; Healthcare Consultant, BluePath Health
• Thomas Peteet, MD, MPH (2016-2018) - Primary care physician, Commonwealth Care Alliance; Adjunct Faculty, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; Adjunct Faculty, Prison Education Program, Massasoit Community College; Adjunct Faculty, Prison Education Program, Boston University Metropolitan College
• Devin Oller, MD, MPH (2016-2017) - Primary Care Track Director and Associate Program Director, IM Residency Program, University of Kentucky; Staff physician, UK Addiction Consultation and Education Service