Urban Health Program

UHP Undergraduate Pre-Health Initiative

The UIC Urban Health Program (UHP) was established in 1978 with the mission of increasing the number of African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and American Indian students in the health sciences through recruitment, retention, and graduation. The UIC UHP community includes the following: College of Applied Health Sciences; College of Dentistry; Graduate College; College of Medicine; College of Nursing; College of Pharmacy; Jane Addams College of Social Work; and School of Public Health.  We engage and have interactive activities for UIC undergraduate students of all levels through comprehensive programming that will prepare them for a career in the health sciences.

UHP has a rich legacy of working with undergraduate pre-health students to ensure that they are the most competitive applicants for our health sciences colleges. The undergraduate programming targeting pre-health students was revamped into two structured programs: HES and PASS. The goal is to increase the applicant pool of students into the health science programs by ensuring that pre-health students persist with timely interventions and are successful. The students are offered structured programs and tracked through their academic journeys, while we carefully monitor their progress to see what works and what needs tweaking.

We are dedicated to providing support and assistance to our students, with hopeful expectations that the services we render will be beneficial. For more information on the UHP Undergraduate Initiatives HES and PASS please contact Francisco Pina Assistant Director of Advising, Recruitment, and Retention at the  UHP Resource Center at 312/996-7727.

UHP Promoting Academics for Scholarly Success (PASS)

PASS is open to, freshmen and new UHP transfer students who are interested in the health sciences or the research health sciences. This is a structured program that is designed to prepare participants to develop their interests and skills to apply for any of the UIC health science professional or graduate health science programs. PASS participants will receive pre-health advising on the health sciences, mentoring, and career exploration seminars through monthly opportunities.

Objective: Develop competitive applicants to the health science colleges.

• UIC freshmen and new transfer students
• Enrollment max 50

Program Description :

• Monthly group meeting
• Pre-health advising
• College visits
• Mentorship sessions
• Academic skills workshops
• Career exploration
• College navigational workshops
• Advising Check-In

UHP Health Exploration Scholars (HES)

The HRSA funded UIC Health Professions Navigator Program ended on August 30, 2019. As a result of the success of the program, the UIC UHP will continue a version of the Navigator Program called the UHP Health Exploration Scholars (HES).

The HES is intended to be a professional development program for UIC students with the intent of having participants pursue health professions careers.  This program will be structured to expose participates to students, staff, and faculty in the health sciences. All UHP units will be included in the programming schedule.

Objective: Develop participants into strong candidates for the UIC health profession sciences.

• Open to Former Navigator Scholars
• Application required
• Enrollment max 50

Program Description :

• Bi-Weekly meetings
• College shadowing
• Mentorship (peer to peer mentorship)
• Speed networking
• Career exploration
• Research Workshop
• Advising Check-In