Resident Education in Advocacy and Community Health
REACH offers pediatric residents a hands-on opportunity to become leaders in advocacy, community health, and public policy through immersive experiences, expert mentorship, and collaborative community partnerships.
About REACH
Resident Education in Advocacy and Community Health (REACH) is a core tenet of our pediatric residency program. Our goal is to foster the development of pediatricians who are committed to improving children’s health and well-being through engagement with effective community-oriented programs and services to address children’s critical health needs.
As an integral program of Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health, our residents work with experts in the fields of population health, community research, policy formation and social innovation in order to promote healthy development. REACH presents the University of Connecticut pediatric residents the unique opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in the areas of advocacy, community health, and public policy.
Mission
As a program, we believe that community involvement and advocacy are a core part of residency training. Our mission is to train well-rounded physicians who will improve the health of children and adolescents through clinical excellence, research, teaching, community involvement, and advocacy.
Residency Program Curriculum
REACH has two main arms as part of the residency program curriculum:
Individualized Curriculum (for residents with a special interest in advocacy and community health)
The Health Disparities and Leadership Scholarship Track is a UConn GME-wide, two-year longitudinal program designed to equip residents and fellows with the skills, knowledge, and experience to advance health equity through clinical practice, scholarship, and systems-level leadership. The curriculum explores the social and structural drivers of health, including poverty, housing, education, and access to care, and how these factors impact patient outcomes across diverse populations. This track is interdisciplinary and has members from many of our UConn residency and fellowship programs. Residents in this track participate in a structured series of bi-monthly evening workshops and semi-annual retreats that include site visits to community organizations, FQHCs, public health agencies, and advocacy groups. The program fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and aims to deepen participants’ understanding of the local communities they serve, with a focus on building meaningful partnerships and sustainable change. Participants are supported in developing a capstone project aligned with their interests, which may take the form of quality improvement initiatives, research, educational interventions, community-based work, or advocacy efforts.
Residents have up to 20 weeks of individualized curriculum during residency. On the REACH pathway, they have the opportunity to take the “Introduction to Advocacy” elective. This experience includes sessions on how pediatricians can engage in advocacy to advance children’s health and well-being through legislative work, community engagement, and media participation. Residents meet with experts in the fields of legislative advocacy, policy creation, social justice, health disparities research and media relations. Residents have the opportunity to author an op-ed, several of which have been published.
UConn and Yale pediatric residents have joined forces to form a state-wide coalition with the goal of furthering local and state-level advocacy.
Residents also have the ability to partner with key stakeholders in the hospital or community to do more in-depth work in research and policy. Our residents have developed policy briefs, produced written and verbal testimony on active bills, and secured grant funding for new resident-led community initiatives.
Core Experiences (for all residents)
We have required educational topics during ambulatory time focused on community health and advocacy, along with didactics on health equity and the medical-legal partnership. Partnering with the Connecticut Children’s Government Relations team, residents have opportunities to participate in legislative advocacy, including spending time at the legislature in Hartford. In addition, we provide a dedicated academic half-day specifically focused on advocacy.
As part of their residency training, each pediatric resident participates in a Community Longitudinal Experience (CLE) and partners with community organizations to engage in advocacy and health promotion. We also provide a structured didactic curriculum that covers health disparities, protective factors and health care equity.
I was inspired to join the REACH program because I want to help mitigate the barriers that impact the children I care for. While it can be overwhelming to consider the many issues that need addressing, the REACH program has helped me focus my passion and feel more empowered as a pediatrician in my community and state.
Lillian James, MD – UConn Pediatric Resident, Class of 2027
Community Longitudinal Experience (CLE)
The Community Longitudinal Experience (CLE) prepares residents to become pediatricians who advance child health through advocacy, education, and partnership with community organizations. As part of residency training, each pediatric resident participates in the CLE, partnering with local organizations to promote child health and advocacy. Integrated with didactics that include topics such as health disparities, protective factors, and health care equity, the CLE provides a half-day each week during ambulatory rotations (18 weeks total). Through these experiences, residents engage in a variety of initiatives that deepen their understanding of community needs while fostering meaningful connections within Hartford. For specific experiences, see below:
Capitol Squash: Tutoring, mentorship, and health education for Hartford public school students.
YMCA: Delivering nutrition classes to preschoolers.
Learn more about the two faculty members who lead REACH:
Jonah Mandell, DO, is a physician in Urgent Care. Dr. Mandell completed his pediatric residency and chief residency at Connecticut Children’s. He loves that he can continue to offer excellent patient care and be involved in the education of patients, families, medical students, and residents.
Emily Hogeland, MD, is an attending physician in the Division of Hospital Medicine at Connecticut Children’s and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UConn School of Medicine. She attended Harvard College for undergraduate studies, and then spent a year in Bolivia learning about healthcare delivery for indigenous populations. She attended medical school at University of California - San Francisco and then completed her pediatrics residency at the University of Washington/Seattle Children’s - Alaska Track. After graduating from residency, she worked as a pediatric hospitalist at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage for six years, where she had the privilege of caring for Alaska Native children and their families. She transitioned to Connecticut Children’s in 2022, where she is now involved in both graduate medical education as Associate Program Director for the UConn Pediatric Residency, as well as undergraduate medical education as Assistant Clerkship Director of the UConn inpatient pediatrics clerkship. She is passionate about advocacy, healthcare for underserved populations, trauma-informed care, and cultural humility.
Resident Voices in Advocacy
Highlighting resident work in community health and policy.
