The Institute For Family Health Career Opportunities

The Institute for Family Health provides primary health care services at 25 locations in the Bronx, Manhattan, Ulster and Dutchess counties. It also operates health promotion and outreach programs, and engages in health professional training and health services research.

We provide high-quality health care to underserved populations; sponsor innovative training programs for health professionals; engage in primary care health services research; and participate in health policy development at the national, state, and local levels.

Many patients come to our Manhattan practices from local neighborhoods, while others travel to us from neighborhoods around the city. They represent a diverse spectrum of economic and social backgrounds, from the middle class and the working poor, to welfare recipients and the homeless. They come from many ethnic backgrounds, and a wide variety of cultures. Some of our patients present medical, psychosocial, and economic challenges that require extra skills and sensitivity on the part of our staff.

In the Bronx, we serve the Morrisania, Mt. Hope, Tremont, and Parkchester neighborhoods — all the Institute’s Bronx practice sites are located in Health Professional Shortage Areas. These communities have high rates of asthma, tuberculosis, substance abuse, and HIV, increasing the need for counseling and crisis management. There are more children per household, and the level of educational attainment is lower than that of the city as a whole.

Many of our Bronx patients are African-American or Hispanic; many receive public assistance; and more than half are women, who face numerous obstacles to getting good health care—difficulty in obtaining insurance coverage, competing priorities in their lives, and a strong tendency to provide for the health care needs of their children, often at the expense of their own health care.

Mission Statement

The Institute's mission is to improve the quality and availability of family practice services in response to the needs of medically underserved populations. In support of this mission, the Institute:

• Develops and operates health facilities on a family practice model integrating the work of a broad range of health professionals;
  
  
• Trains health professionals and other health care workers in the family practice model of care;
  
  
• Engages in health services research related to primary health care delivery and primary care education;
  
  
• Formulates health policy in support of its direct patient care and educational goals;
  
  
• Promotes the diversity of its workforce and provides an environment that encourages personal and professional development for all.
  

In our rapidly evolving health care system, the Institute’s leadership will help to insure that future generations of needy New Yorkers have an opportunity to live longer, healthier lives.