Rural Health Leadership Fellowship

Rural Health Leadership Fellowship

The Massachusetts General Hospital Fellowship Program in Rural Health Leadership provides world class training to early-career clinicians who seek to build careers partnering with communities to improve health.

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 resource-denied 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 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 tailored learning network in partnership with leading US-based Global and Rural Health fellowships, and a Settler Colonialism Curriculum
• 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:

• Engagement with students in local high schools
• 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
• Development of quality, safety, and equity rounds
• 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 Aislinn O’Keefe at aokeefe6@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 

Kristen Sparagna, MD

Dr. Kristen Sparagna (she/her) is one of two fellows in the 2022 MGH Rural Health Leadership Fellowship cohort. She graduated with her BA from University of Chicago and her MD from Albany Medical College before completing a combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency at University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Children's. She is passionate about addressing health inequities in rural communities and improving the quality of clinical care in low-resource settings.

Greg Yungtum, MD, MA

Dr. Greg Yungtum (he/him) grew up on a farm in Sumner, Iowa, and went to college at the University of Notre Dame to study Sociocultural Anthropology. He earned his MA degree in Medical Anthropology at Harvard University and his MD degree at the University of Iowa. He completed his internal medicine residency at Brown University, where he focused on primary care and gained experience in addiction medicine and HIV clinics. He is interested in global and rural health development, with previous experience in rural Western Uganda studying barriers to treatment within HIV outreach programs. His academic and clinical interests include infectious diseases (especially HIV, HCV, and STI treatment), addiction medicine, food security and Native food sovereignty, the culture and structures of western medicine, and ethical photography in global health. Dr. Yungtum joined the RHL Fellowship in 2022.

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

Fellowship Director

Stephanie Sun, MD, MSc, MPH

Dr. Stephanie Sun was born in a small town in Ontario, Canada, just two hours outside Toronto. With a love for the outdoors and initial plans for a career as a research scientist, she graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor's of Science in Biology and a Masters in Science in Evolutionary Genetics and Bioinformatics. After volunteering on a medical mission in rural China and a year working with YWCA Canada, a multi-service women's organization for families fleeing situations of violence, her career path took a turn toward medicine. Dr. Sun graduated from the Keith B. Taylor Global Scholars Programme of St. George's University, completed residency at the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program, where she also completed a year as Chief Resident. Dr. Sun completed the MGH Rural Health Leadership Fellowship in 2020 and has been Director of the RHL Fellowship since 2021. A former varsity swimmer who competed at the Canadian 2008 Beijing Trials, (she insists she was "just happy to be there"), she continues to enjoy time in the water and exploring the outdoors on hikes and trails.

Core Faculty

• Matthew Tobey, MD, MPH - Director, MGH Rural Medicine Program
• Interests: rural primary care, addiction medicine, and health equity for individuals involved with the criminal legal system
• Amina Chaudry, MD, MPH, MBA - Faculty (2021-present)
• Interests: digital health, reproductive and sexual health
• Yun Li, MD, MBA - Fellow (2021-2023), Faculty (2023-present)
• Interests: rural health care delivery, telemedicine
• Theodore Weatherwax, MD - Faculty (2023-present)
• Interests: addiction medicine
• Jean Heisler, MD - Faculty (2024-present)
• Interests: family medicine, medical education, reservation-based care

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)
• Leah Ratner, MD - Affiliate Faculty (2021-present)
• Suzanne Koven, MD, MFA - Affiliate Faculty (2023-present)
• Aislinn O’Keefe, MBA - Program Manager
• 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

Learn more about the Rural Medicine Program Staff & Faculty

Fellowship Alumni

• 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) - Lead Clinical Consultant for Gender-Affirming Care, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board; 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