The UTSW-Parkland Health Equity Scholars Program is a 2-year initiative that funds 20% of a faculty member's salary and is designed to equip Clinician-Educator or Clinician track faculty with practical tools and experience to engage the community in activities that promote health and support health equity. For example, faculty may design programs that enhance uptake of vaccines in minority communities, cardiopulmonary resuscitation education in zip codes with high prevalence of cardiac arrest, develop activities that promote exercise and good nutrition in children and adults, training community health workers, etc. Training to become independent investigators is not a goal or requirement of the program.

At the end of the 2-year period, one of three results are anticipated: 1) the home departments will continue to finance 20% of the faculty members' time for community engagement/health equity work, 2) the faculty will obtain external funding to continue the community engagement/health equity work, or 3) the faculty member and chair will decide on how the 20% time is split, with many taking on more clinical work.

Eligibility

• Full-time UT Southwestern faculty on the Clinician-Educator or Clinician academic tracks
• Primary clinical appointment may be at Parkland Hospital, Clements University Hospital, or Children's Medical Center.
• Associate, assistant, and instructors may apply.
• Have a stated career goal of clinical service to underserved and disadvantaged communities.

Available Support

Scholars will have 20% of their salary supported for protected time to pursue a mentored health equity/community outreach project. Scholars will also have access to:

• training in implicit bias mitigation
• training in project implementation
• leadership coaching
• becoming a participant in the Office of Faculty Development’s leadership development cohort – LEAD
• direct mentorship for their community outreach/health equity project

Application Process

Applications for the 2025–2026 UTSW–Parkland Health Equity Scholars Program are now open. The application deadline is Thursday, July 31, 2025, and the program will begin in October 2025.

To apply, please click the following link:

Application for the Health Equity Scholars Program

Applicants must submit the following materials:

• Responses to the following two prompts:
  • Describe your career goals and experience serving underserved or disadvantaged communities.
  • Describe a health equity problem you hope to address and a preliminary plan for how you might approach it.
• A letter of support from your Department Chair
• A letter of support from your direct supervisor (e.g., Division Chief)

All materials must be submitted by the deadline in order to be considered.

Scholars Profiles