Our patients are the heart of our residency program, and our residents grow into pediatric experts by caring for children across a wide range of clinical environments.
In addition to core training at Comer Children’s Hospital, located on the South Side of Chicago, residents are deeply engaged in caring for underrepresented and historically marginalized communities. This experience fosters a strong foundation in health equity, cultural humility, and community advocacy.
Residents also rotate through a variety of affiliated hospitals, each offering distinct learning opportunities shaped by diverse practice settings and patient populations.
At La Rabida Children’s Hospital, residents receive specialized training in caring for children with complex, chronic medical conditions—many of whom face significant social and structural barriers to care. This experience deepens their understanding of long-term, advocacy-driven care for medically underserved populations.
At Evanston Hospital – Endeavor Health, residents participate in inpatient, hospitalist, NICU, and subspecialty elective rotations, honing their general pediatrics skills in a community hospital setting that emphasizes continuity of care and cross-system collaboration.
These rotations not only build clinical excellence, but also reinforce our program’s mission to advance health equity and advocate for children across all communities we serve.
OFFSITE CLINICAL SITES
La Rabida Children’s Hospital, located just minutes from our main campus at 65th Street and Lake Michigan, offers residents a unique opportunity to care for children with complex medical needs during their second and third years of training.
Residents provide post-acute care for patients with a wide range of chronic conditions, including cerebral palsy, complications of prematurity, and congenital heart disease. Many of these children are technology-dependent, requiring specialized management of home ventilators, tracheostomies, and gastrostomy tubes.
This rotation fosters deeper skills in multidisciplinary care, care coordination, and family-centered advocacy for children with medical complexity.
La Rabida Children's Hospital
6501 South Promontory Drive
Chicago, IL 60649
Endeavor | NorthShore Evanston Hospital, located on the North Side of Chicago, offers residents the opportunity to train in a high-volume community hospital setting. These rotation emphasizes clinical decision-making within a community-based system, where residents learn to manage patients with available resources and develop the judgment to escalate care when more advanced services are needed.
Available rotations at Evanston are available in areas such as:
- General Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) Unit (2-4 weeks as PL2 or PL3)
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (2-4 weeks as PL1)
- Mother Baby Unit elective (2 weeks)
- Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine elective (2 weeks)
- Ambulatory elective (2 weeks)
- Additional outpatient and elective time possible
Endeavor | NorthShore Evanston Hospital
2650 Ridge Ave.,
Evanston, IL 60201
CONTINUITY CLINIC SITES
Our residency program partners with several Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) which serve as continuity clinic sites—providing residents with a rich foundation in delivering comprehensive, longitudinal primary care to underserved communities.
Each resident is assigned a primary FQHC clinic site, which becomes their clinical “home” throughout residency. To ensure well-rounded exposure, most residents also rotate through other affiliated FQHCs, gaining insight into a variety of practice models, patient populations, and community health needs. These experiences strengthen our residents' ability to deliver high-quality, equitable primary care in diverse real-world settings.
Since 1997, Friend Health has provided accessible, affordable, and culturally responsive primary care to vulnerable and medically underserved communities across Chicago. Through its growing network of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Friend Health offers comprehensive primary and preventive services, along with wraparound support such as behavioral health, case management, WIC, pharmacy, and lab services.
All Friend Health sites are staffed by University of Chicago Teaching Attendings, who provide hands-on supervision and mentorship to our residents.
🌿 Friend Health – Cottage Grove
6250 S. Cottage Grove, Chicago, IL 60637
Located near the University of Chicago, Cottage Grove is Friend’s largest site and a major hub for our resident continuity clinics (running 5 days a week). The site includes lab services, WIC, a pharmacy, behavioral health support, and case management.
🌍 Friend Health – Pulaski
5635 S. Pulaski, Chicago, IL 60629
Serving many Spanish-speaking patients, this site near Midway Airport offers an excellent opportunity for bilingual residents—though interpreter services are available to all. It houses a lab, dental clinic, pharmacy, and behavioral health services. Resident clinic runs 3 days a week.
🏥 Friend Health – Western
5843 S. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60636
Friend’s third-largest site features a lab, dental clinic, and behavioral health support. Spanish-speaking patients are seen here as well, though to a lesser extent than at Pulaski. Resident clinic also runs 3 days a week.
Erie Community Health Center
1701 W. Superior St., Chicago, IL 60622
Driven by the belief that healthcare is a human right, Erie provides high-quality, affordable, and holistic care for individuals and families across the lifespan.
Our resident continuity clinic is held twice weekly at Erie’s West Town location, serving the vibrant West Town and Humboldt Park communities. The patient population is predominantly Spanish-speaking, and as such, residents assigned to this site must be fluent or near-fluent in Spanish (interpreter services are not available).
Clinic is staffed by a dedicated group of Erie Teaching Attendings, including several proud alumni of our own residency program.
Family Christian is committed to improving community health by addressing the physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological, and financial needs of their patients—believing that true wellness comes from caring for the whole person.
While Family Christian operates multiple sites, resident continuity clinic takes place at their Harvey location, approximately 35 minutes south of Comer. Clinic is held twice weekly and is staffed by a fantastic team of Teaching Attendings, including Comer residency alumni who bring both expertise and mentorship to the experience.
Family Christian Health Center
31 West 155th St. Harvey, IL 60426
INDIVIDUALIZED PRIMARY CARE OPPORTUNITIES
Residents with a strong interest in primary care can pursue individualized elective experiences designed to deepen their training and expand their clinical skill-set in community-based pediatric care.
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES IN PRIMARY CARE
LUCENT aims to prepare tomorrow’s health care advocates and leaders in both academic & community practices. Interested residents can apply to the LUCENT program during their first year of residency. During this two-year program, LUCENT residents receive special training & mentorship on how to serve as a primary care physician and advocate to underserved populations. Residents also complete a scholarly project of their choosing, and have expanded ambulatory clinical & didactic training focusing on issues like social justice & health care access.
PITCH is a 2-year fellowship post-residency that trains the next generation of primary care clinicians to improve health outcomes and care delivery for patients with chronic diseases from underserved backgrounds. Fellows will be supported in their research efforts, and will be offered the opportunity to complete a Master of Science for Clinical Professionals, in addition to receiving dedicated, aligned mentorship. Through these activities, our fellows will become experts in the key principles of primary care research affecting vulnerable populations, the communication of their findings, leveraging policy to improve equity, and gain the fundamental skills that are required for rigorous academic research careers.
PRIMARY CARE CAREER SUPPORT
Unlike subspecialty paths, there’s no formal match for primary care jobs—making the process feel daunting. To support our residents, we offer robust career advising resources tailored to primary care.
Our alumni network is a key asset, offering mentorship, job leads, and participating in our annual fall career panel. Throughout the year, residents receive individualized guidance on everything from designing electives to explore practice settings, to crafting CVs, cover letters, and effective job search strategies.
Alumni are regularly invited to participate in our Primary Care Curriculum (PCC) Series which allow our trainees the opportunity to learn about a primary care life.
