Two leaders at RUSH have been selected to join the 2024 class of the Carol Emmott Fellowship. The fellowship is sponsored by the Carol Emmott Foundation, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving "fully inclusive gender equity in healthcare leadership and governance.”
RUSH’s fellows are Stephanie Guzik, MBA, BSN, RN, CHRC, and Joy Sclamberg, MD. They are among 24 fellows who were announced in December and nominated by prestigious sponsoring organizations, including RUSH.
When Guzik heard the news about being nominated for the fellowship, she said, “I was blown away. I almost couldn’t believe it. To know that someone thought enough of me to nominate me, I was really humbled by that.”
Sclamberg said she felt “very honored and humbled” about being chosen, “especially when I learned about all of the incredible women and leaders who I’m in the cohort with and will be able to learn from.”
About this year’s fellows
Guzik, who has worked at RUSH for nearly 28 years, now serves as associate vice president and university compliance officer at RUSH University Medical Center. She is an institution-wide resource who works each day to make sure that RUSH maintains the public trust that it has earned.
“My job is to ensure that all at RUSH, whether it’s bedside staff or researchers, have a commitment to public trust and performing their duties without bias,” Guzik says. “Protecting our patients, students, trainees and those who are vulnerable gives me a great sense of justice to my role.”
Sclamberg, who has worked at RUSH for over 22 years, is a diagnostic radiologist and the senior associate dean of graduate medical education. She leads roughly 75 residency and fellowship programs and advocates for more than 850 physicians in training.
She believes there are two main things that make her good at her job: “Residents who are struggling know they can come to me, no matter who they are or what’s going on, and I’ll be there to support them,” and “I think I’m good at telling people things that they may not want to hear or maybe constructive criticism in a way that they leave ready to get to work instead of feeling like they were attacked.”
Goals of the fellowship
Each fellow must choose an impact project to complete during their time in the program. Guzik’s project will focus on introducing wellness activities and resources to all staff in a way that won’t make it seem like just another item added to their workload but in a way that feels like a real solution that will relieve some stressors. Sclamberg is planning to focus on finding ways to foster community and connection, an area that she feels is missing in medicine, in the hospital, among trainees, physicians and leaders and in the wider society.
Both Guzik and Sclamberg are eager to take advantage of opportunities to hone their leadership skills and strengths, both by learning from others and through self-reflection. Guzik says she is “looking forward to having the time to focus on learning from leaders at other institutions about how to use different solutions to navigate the healthcare field and learning about tools to try to be a better leader.”
Sclamberg shared, “One of the best parts of this is that I’ll be able to think about my leadership style in a way that I've never really thought about it before. I tend to put my head down and get to work but I’m excited to be able to spend time doing some self-reflection and thinking how I could be a better, more effective and introspective leader in serving our community.”
Shaping future leaders
Both Guzik and Sclamberg take immense pride in leading their teams and being able to work with such hard-working, intelligent individuals.
“Every single day I work with young trainees who have more bravery and strength and confidence than I ever did, more than I even do now,” Sclamberg says. She hopes to hear from leaders across the country to learn how they advocate for those around them in various, difficult situations and to “rise to the level of leadership that staff deserve” during her time in the fellowship.
For her part, Guzik says she tries her best to “understand each person I work with to know what their desires and goals are to give them the tools, support and guidance to achieve what they are working towards.” She also feels a responsibility to advocate for and champion the success of those around her, the way others helped her get to where she is today. “I feel like it’s my obligation to put out into the world what has been given to me.”
A full list of the 2024 fellows and more information regarding the fellowship are available on the Carol Emmott Fellowship website.
