With generous funding provided by Eric Eichler ’57, outstanding Dartmouth senior-year students will be selected as The Eric Eichler ’57 Fellowship for Healthcare Leaders. This one-year fellowship includes mentorship with senior faculty and researchers to guide your exploration of research, policy, or health outcomes improvement work through community service.
In The News:
Announcing the 2024-25 Fellows.
Brigham Clinical & Research News, Hannah Kim, MS, Eichler Fellow '23
Background and Mission
The Eichler ’57 Fellowship is part of the Dartmouth Healthcare Foundations program. In an effort to develop a new method of training future leaders in healthcare, Dartmouth alumnus Eric Eichler ’57 partnered with The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice at the Geisel School of Medicine to model a holistic approach to pre-health education for undergraduates. This effort began in November 2017 and is currently comprised of several components:
-
The Dartmouth Healthcare Foundations Society for Medical Humanities represents the broader community of participants in our full suite of programs, including alumni
-
The Dartmouth Healthcare Foundations Summer Intensive for pre-health students from around the country;
-
The selective Eichler ’57 Fellowship for Healthcare Leaders at Dartmouth College that links service projects with individually mentored learning;
-
The Eichler ’57 Foundations in Medicine and Humanities Seminar Series, a monthly seminar open to Fellows and members of the Dartmouth community;
-
Dartmouth Generations, a student-led organization for students who are interested in learning about dementia and other aging issues and getting to know older members of the Upper Valley Community.
Through this work, we aim to redefine education and model new appreciation in daily work at the beginning of students’ healthcare training. American healthcare is facing unprecedented challenges that require a different method of developing expertise. The current approach continues to promote a crisis of cynicism and demoralization that begins in the introductory stages of pre-health education. Newly initiated professionals begin their careers having let go of humanity somewhere in the broken process of their education. Through a new approach to prehealth-education, we seek to disrupt this trajectory.
Apply now!
Click here to learn more about the application.
Before my Fellowship year, as an aspiring physician-scientist, I was broadly interested in translational medicine and ameliorating inequities in healthcare. However, I was unsure of how to reconcile these two seemingly distinct interests. After learning about healthcare from a multitude of perspectives, from mentors like Manish and Elizabeth, experts at the Aging Resource Center, healthcare leaders speaking at meetings, and older adults in the Upper Valley, I have a better grip on what it means to actually serve patients. I have a more concrete understanding of the gaps within the healthcare system in terms of care and patient experience, can point towards actionable steps to make healthcare more equitable, and how the humanities and art can be used to bridge the academic side of medicine with healing and patient-centered care.
Sarah C. Berman, Dartmouth class of 2025
Eric Eichler '57 Foundations in Medicine and Humanities Seminar Series
All students and early-career professionals, regardless of their Dartmouth affiliation, are invited to join us for the monthly (during the academic year) Eric Eichler ’57 Foundations in Medicine and Humanities Seminar Series, where experts from the Arts, Sciences, Humanities, and global leaders will guide you to think holistically and creatively about healthcare using a humanistic approach. Sign up here to receive updates about these seminars.