OSF HealthCare in partnership with UIUC is pleased to announce the inaugural Call for Proposals for the 2026 OSF Faculty Fellowship Program. Through Faculty Fellowships and with the support of the Jump ARCHES program, OSF HealthCare and UIUC aim to develop and cultivate a cohort of faculty members with expertise in healthcare research and its translation to clinical practice and implementation. The program embeds UIUC faculty members with a clinical team at OSF HealthCare in Peoria, IL and provides financial support to enable fellows to dedicate significant time to the development of a joint project with the potential for significant research and clinical impact. 

Via the program, candidates with a strong interest in developing innovative technology-based solutions to healthcare problems will have the opportunity to gain a strong background in the real-world, system-level dimensions that govern the delivery of healthcare solutions and the adoption of technological innovations. Faculty fellows should then be well positioned to pursue additional engagements with OSF HealthCare, including the development and implementation of their proposed project, via the Jump ARCHES funding mechanism.

Eligibility

All tenure track and specialized faculty at UIUC in all Colleges are eligible to participate in the Faculty Fellows program.

Program Structure

The fellowship program will run from June 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027. Each fellow will be supported by a team of operational and clinical personnel at OSF, who will act as mentors and provide guidance in identifying collaborators. Fellows are expected to interact closely with their OSF collaborators in developing the project concept which they described in their proposal. All fellows will be given access to the OSF facilities and resources that are needed to pursue their project activities. Fellows will additionally be given affiliate status at the Health Care Engineering Systems Center (HCESC) and will have access to center resources to support their collaboration with OSF. Work conducted by the fellows will be covered by the OSF-UIUC IP agreement associated with the Jump ARCHES program.

Financial Support

All faculty fellows will receive a one semester course buyout from their home department, to be paid directly to their department by OSF. In addition, all faculty fellows will receive a one-time funding award consisting of two months of summer salary.

Requirements and Deliverables

All fellows will be required to participate in an on-boarding program at OSF Healthcare in Peoria, IL to be held in the week of May 15 2026. In addition, fellows will be expected to participate in a final program event to be scheduled in the fall of 2024. It is expected that fellows will spend 3-4 months of focused effort in developing their proposed project with OSF. The program affords some flexibility in terms of how this effort is scheduled within the performance period of Jan 15 to Aug 1. Fellows will be expected to develop a project schedule as part of the on-boarding process. The fellowship program has two deliverables:

• One-page interim report, due August 15, 2026
• Final project report, due January 1, 2027

The final project report will be similar in structure to a Harvard Business Review case study. It will describe an opportunity for a technology-based innovation in clinical care. The submission of the final report is the responsibility of the faculty fellow, but the report must be co-authored with the support team at OSF. The report is expected to be 15-20 pages in length and should address the following topics:

• Description of the clinical problem to be solved
• Description of the innovative solution approach
• Analysis of the technical feasibility of the solution
• Preliminary assessment of the implementation requirements and cost
• Projections of clinical benefit and impact
• Preliminary projections of financial impact and savings

OSF Faculty Fellows will be expected to attend and to present their work at the annual Jump ARCHES symposium held each fall.  OSF Faculty Fellows will recognize the Jump ARCHES Program in any publications, presentations, and/or awards. "This research/presentation was made possible by funding provided by the Jump Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation (Jump ARCHES) program. The Jump ARCHES Program is a strategic engineering and clinical partnership with the University of Illinois Grainger Health Care Engineering Systems Center (HCESC), OSF HealthCare, and the DiSomma Family Foundation."

Program Timeline

• February 1, 2026 – Release of Call for Proposals
• March 1 ,2026  – Deadline to submit OSF Faculty Fellowship Expression of Interest
• April 20, 2026 - Deadline to submit OSF Faculty Fellowship Applications
• May 1, 2026 – Announcement of Faculty Fellowship awardees
• June 1, 2026 – Start of 2024 Faculty Fellowship program
• August 1, 2026 – Interim report is due
• January 1, 2027 – End of fellowship program, final project report is due

Application Process

Applications consist of five parts:

• Project proposal description
  • Limited to 3 pages of narrative plus additional pages of references
• Project budget
  • Budget should be developed using the provided template
  • Budget should include the charge for two months of summer salary
  • Budget should separately list the departmental charge for one semester of teaching release
• Current Biographical Sketch
  • We will accept biosketches in either NIH or NSF format
  • The biosketch should explicitly mention the candidate’s prior experience (if any) in working on healthcare-related problems and working with healthcare or clinical personnel
  • If you use the NSF biosketch format, please add an additional paragraph at the end of the biosketch that describes any experience in working with healthcare/clinical personnel
• Current and pending funding
• Confirmation of teaching release from department head
  • You must attach an email that confirms that a teaching buyout will be approved if the proposal is funded

The project proposal should emphasize specific issues or problems that arise in the execution of clinical work which could be addressed via an innovative, technology-based solution. A successful proposal will clearly describe the problems arising in a particular area and sketch out a potential solution approach based on the innovative use of technology. The candidate is not required to provide preliminary results for the proposed solution or preliminary data supporting the approach, but of course they would be beneficial if they were available. There are four areas of specialization that are of particular interest:

• Digital Rural Health
• Digital Health
• Clinical Intelligence
• Health Data Science

Candidates are not required to have substantial prior experience in health care innovation. One of the program goals is to enable candidates who have a passion for improving healthcare, and a particular area of research or technological expertise, to gain the necessary skills for effective innovation and translation in impacting healthcare systems. Therefore, prior experience in transforming other non-healthcare-related industries through innovation would be quite relevant. Note that it is not necessary for applicants to have prior experience in working with OSF Healthcare or to have contacts at OSF.

Review Process

Proposals will be peer-reviewed via the mechanism of the Jump ARCHES program, including reviewers with both technological and clinical expertise. In addition, prospective applicants may be interviewed by clinical personnel at OSF Healthcare to assess the candidate’s suitability for collaborating in a clinical environment.