Bush Foundation Fellowships

Visit the Bush Foundation

Parker J. Palmer Meets with Bush Fellows

Bush Medical Fellows Program to Close

Bush Foundation Announces 13 Medical Fellows for 2009

Medical Program Overview

Between 1979 and 2009, the Bush Medical Fellows Program enabled more than 300 physicians to receive training in special areas and to develop opportunities for personal and professional growth. The Foundation ceased operation of the Bush Medical Fellows Program in late 2009.

The Foundation encourages medical professionals interested in developing their leadership skills and in engaging their communities in solving problems to consider applying to the Bush Leadership Fellows Program.

Program History and Impact

The Bush Foundation established the Bush Medical Fellows Program to enhance community health care in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and northwestern Wisconsin (Wisconsin residents were no longer eligible after 2007) through the professional and personal development of selected physician leaders. Each year, the Bush Medical Fellows Program awarded up to 15 fellowships that enabled physicians to take a leave of absence from their practices to pursue professional and personal goals that address the health care needs of their communities. Their programs were self designed and self managed; they lasted from three to 12 months. During this time, the fellowship provided a monthly stipend, as well as other financial aid.

Through the program, physicians developed clinical and leadership skills that resulted in improved health care in their communities and a rediscovery of their own potential. At the end of their fellowships, physicians returned to their communities with increased confidence, greater skills and improved leadership ability. As they applied their enhanced skills and knowledge, their communities, in turn, benefited from improved patient care and health care delivery services.

Bush Medical Fellows have helped to start or improve a broad range of health care services in their communities, including full-time emergency room coverage, institution of semiautomatic cardiac defibrillation by paramedics, medical education services, school drug education programs, occupational medicine services, chronic pain clinics, obstetrical specialty services, hospices, geriatric programs, sports medicine programs, allergy clinics, new cardiology services, chemical dependency programs, patient education programs, quality assurance programs, child abuse prevention programs, physical therapy and rehabilitation services and medical information systems.

In addition to clinical studies, most fellows developed better leadership skills, which they used in their communities by serving on regional emergency medical committees, hospital boards, planning boards, patient advisory committees, public health advisory boards and sex abuse councils. They also used these skills in roles such as writers, educators, consultants, medical directors, CEOs, entrepreneurs, county health officers, coroners, department chairpersons, researchers and mentors.

The Minnesota Historical Society has archived the applications of Bush Medical Fellows and will make them available to the public in 50 years.