At NOVA ScriptsCentral our vision is to improve the health of the community by empowering patients to take charge of their health and eliminating barriers to care. All services provided by the organization are designed to address public health issues such as health disparities, health equity and social determinants of health within vulnerable communities.

The role and responsibility of the Safety-Net Health Equity Fellow is to become a champion and advocate for the uninsured across the healthcare industry. The Fellow works collaboratively with other health care providers to develop and implement evidence-based medicine programs to improve health outcomes for uninsured patients. These programs range from school-based immunizations, medication assisted therapy opioid recovery, and chronic disease management.

As the first of its kind in the nation, this 1 yr fellowship presents an opportunity for pharmacists to gain hands-on experience to work with diverse uninsured patient populations in delivering culturally competent care and advocating for increasing equitable access to care. The fellow will work with healthcare industry stakeholders at the local, regional, and national level to elevate the needs of the uninsured population being served at health safety net clinics and charitable pharmacies.

Two of the key strategic partners of the fellowship are the National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). The fellow will work directly with both distinguished national organizations to help advocate for healthcare policy changes, clinical trial diversity and other public health related issues.

The following list of roles and responsibilities is not exclusive but takes into account the implementation of the fellowship program for the next several years.

• Reviews patient medication profiles and applies evidence based medicine principles when creating recommendations to medical providers to achieve clinical targets in identified-risk populations, e.g., heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, asthma and mental health.

• Provides multi-modal (e.g., telephonic, face to face, telehealth, etc.) adherence assessments, coaching and counseling for patients in the identified priority patient populations.

• Delivers culturally competent educational workshops to groups of all sizes using multiple delivery systems/methods which include but are not limited to on site teaching, video conferencing, conference calls, and other technology to support communication.

• Collaborate with Community Outreach Manager to address the concepts of health disparities, health equity, and social determinants of health when creating learning objectives, course outlines, assessments, training plans, trainer notes, handouts, review activities and audio-visual aids for all health programs.

• Participate in expanding our school-based immunization program within the region and other NSC program offerings.

• Engage in designing strategies to improve health outcomes in vulnerable populations

• Evaluate cost effective options to improve patient care while using evidence based best practices

• Identify how to leverage mobile and digital health tools to improve patient care

• Collaborate on legislative advocacy efforts around health equity & health disparities

Qualifications and Education Requirements

The Safety-Net Health Equity Fellow should have a current Virginia Pharmacist license or be eligible to get licensed to practice pharmacy in Virginia. They must be a certified immunizer and have up to date CPR certification.

This fellowship requires candidates to be interested in learning about health disparities, health equity, delivering culturally competent care and health advocacy work. There will be a substantial amount of public speaking and engagement with healthcare stakeholders. Fellowship candidates should have familiarity with Microsoft Office applications and other online tools ( i.e. Zoom, social media, etc…)

Preferred Skills

• Passion to help under-served populations.

• Good public speaker who can encourage and motivate.

• Must have excellent interpersonal communication skills.

• Social media savvy and comfortable using social media platforms.

• Must be available to work flexible hours, some evenings or weekends.

• Be able to develop and design reports and educational materials with Microsoft Suite.

• A detail-oriented candidate should demonstrate the initiative and ability to function independently.

• Able to utilize technology to effectively communicate with patients and healthcare providers in a virtual environment.

Fellowship Timeline: 1 year starting July 1st, 2024 - June 30th, 2025