BMO financial group donated $10 million to Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center to support the academic health system's equity initiatives and open the Rush BMO Institute for Health Equity.
According to a May 10 news release, the institute will help the health system in its mission of eliminating health inequities and leverage Rush's strengths in patient care, investment and education to help the communities Rush serves.
The institute will focus on education and workforce development, community-based clinical practice to reduce chronic disease risk factors, community engagement and outreach, and health equity research.
Rush has become one of the first academic health systems to make health equity a strategy. The donation will support Rush's efforts in addressing Chicago's life expectancy gap between affluent and low-income communities. In Chicago, a 5-mile difference between neighborhoods could adversely affect a person's life expectancy by up to 12 years and is the largest gap in the country, the release said.