In June 2015, members of the Hektoen Institute of Medicine, the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, the Michael Reese Education & Research Foundation, the Portes Foundation and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago held a series of meetings with the aim of achieving synergies in conducting their individual programs and developing new ones. These meetings resulted in the formation of the Foxglove Alliance.
Operationally coordinated and financially supported by the Hektoen Institute, the Foxglove Alliance has and continues to evolve as a Chicago coalition dedicated to promoting healthcare by means of:
- Engaging in community health programs
- Education & Research Activities
- Marketing, Communications/Promotion & Advocacy
- Marketing & Promotion
- Formation of joint initiatives and strategic collaborations
- Issue identification, discussions and analysis
- Calls to action on critical and/or noteworthy public health care issues.
The current roster of official FGA member are:
- Access to Care
- The Heath Care Council of Chicago
- The Hektoen Institute of Medical Research
- The I Am Abel Foundation
- The Illinois Association of Free & Charitable Clinics
- The Illinois Medical District
- The Institute of Medicine of Chicago
- The Lead Abatement Resource Center
- The Michael Reese Research & Education Foundation
- The Portes Foundation
- The Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago
- T.H.E.N. – the Trauma, Health Equity and Neurobiology Center
- West Side United
Foxglove Alliance members have diverse foci but those areas of focus are all rooted in improving public health care in Chicago. Some members provide services such as grant management, while others actually provide direct funding to health care initiatives and some even provide direct patient care. The goal is to come up with situations where the members can use their strengths to solve a problem or advance a solution, such as education.
But, the FGA works with a number of other organizations on general and project specific matters. An education example is how Hektoen and the I Am Abel Foundation have formed a strategic partnership that focuses on exposing Chicago minority youth to and helping them enter into careers in healthcare and the FGA’s larger M3R (More Minorities in Medical Research) Campaign which in addition to educating people about the importance of minority participation in medical/clinical trials, but also promotes the need for more minorities to conduct and lead medical/clinical trials in Chicago.
We encourage you to visit the Foxglove Alliance website and to follow it on Facebook and Twitter.