ABOUT US 

The George Washington University (GW) Residency Fellowship in Health Policy (RFHP) is an intensive three-week elective. It provides multi-specialty resident and fellow physicians with an understanding of U.S. health policy and its implications for medical practice and healthcare delivery. The program increases participant knowledge of key health policy issues impacting their local communities and the nation, thus preparing them to be effective physician-leaders in system-based practice. The elective has two components: first, daily classroom-based learning and second, in-person site visits at various Washington, DC institutions. RFHP uniquely capitalizes on its location and the extraordinary resources available in the region.

​The Residency Fellowship in Health Policy is made possible through the combined resources of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at GW, the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Children's National Medical Center. The RFHP is available to GW and CNMC residents from all disciplines who are interested in an intensive, short-term health policy fellowship as part of their graduate medical education experience.

Read About Us

• Teaching Health Policy to Residents Three-Year Experience with a Multi-Specialty Curriculum
• For Doctors-In-Training, a Dose of Health Policy Can Help the Medicine Go Down

Meet the Team

Fitzhugh Mullan, MD

rfhp program co-director

​Dr. Mullan was an original founder of the RFHP and has been running the course for over 15 years. He is a professor of Health Policy and Pediatrics at the George Washington University. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Medical School and served 23 years in the United States Public Health Service, starting as an NHSC physician in  New Mexico and later as director of the program. Subsequently, he directed the Bureau of Health Professions and attained the rank of Assistant Surgeon General. He also served as the Secretary of Health and Environment for the state of New Mexico. He is the Founding President of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the Founding Board Chair of Seed Global Health, Board Chair of the Beyond Flexner Alliance, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Guenevere Burke, MD, MBA 

Course faculty

Dr. Guenevere Burke is co-director of the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity, and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University (GW).  In these roles, she leads medical education and interdisciplinary graduate programs in health equity, health policy and healthcare technology.  Dr. Burke holds a faculty appointment in health policy and management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. 
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Dr. Burke is a board-certified emergency physician who provides clinical care in traditional and telemedicine encounters.  She supports telemedicine programs in chronic disease management for urban underserved and is past president of the District of Columbia American College of Emergency Physicians.  Dr. Burke completed fellowship training in health policy at GW, medical education at UCLA and residency training at the University of Southern California, where she served as chief resident. She holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and previously worked in international healthcare consulting and hospital finance prior to her career in medicine and education.

Natalie Kirilichin, MD, MPH

RFHP Program Co-Director ​

Dr. Kirilichin is a board-certified attending emergency medicine physician and assistant professor with the George Washington University Department of Emergency Medicine. Her other education leadership roles include directing the GW MFA Postgraduate Health Policy Fellowship and the Health Policy Scholarly Concentration Program at the School of Medicine. Dr. Kirilichin is also a clinical public health mentor. 
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Dr. Kirilichin received her undergraduate degree (BS, Biology) from Georgetown University and remained at Georgetown’s School of Medicine to complete her MD. She earned her MPH from the GWU Milken Institute School of Public Health and completed residency at University of Chicago Hospitals. During her two year health policy fellowship at GW, she worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on mental health and substance abuse legislation. She went onto become a medical advisor for National Safety Council, a nonprofit that eliminates preventable deaths through leadership, research, education and advocacy. 

Dr. Kirilichin is also active in organized medicine serving as Immediate Past President of the DC American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and as a member of the Pain Management and Addiction Medicine Section.  Finally, Dr. Kirilichin sits on the Advisory Committee for DC Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).

Katherine Green, MS​

course advisor & coordinator

​Katherine Green is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Health Policy and Management. She holds a Master's Degree in International Relations and Service Development. The focus of her research is gender equity and empowerment. She is passionate about working on unresolved social issues that deal with health disparities, gender rights, LGBTQ advocacy, the importance of the arts, and advancing justice. She has a background in social sciences and fine arts. Prior to joining GW, Ms. Green worked in global and national health advocacy, development, and policy.

James Scott, MD 

​course faculty

Dr. Scott has been on the faculty of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University for 33 years. He served as Dean of the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) from 2003 to 2010. Previously he served as student clerkship director, residency director, Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs in the SMHS.

Since stepping down as dean, Dr. Scott has devoted his time and energy to improving medical education in Africa.  He served as Senior Academic Adviser to the Global Health Service Partnership, a program that places U.S. medical educators in African medical schools. He was one of the principal faculty members on the Medical Education Partnership Initiative, to improve the quantity, quality and retention of doctors in sub-Saharan Africa. He is founder of synDRME.org, a Website dedicated to delivering high quality medical educational resources to medical schools in resource-challenged parts of the world. He is also the co-director of the health policy fellowship for residents that has trained over 500 residents from GW and Children’s National Medical Center.

​Leigh Anne Butler, EMT-B

Course academic advisor 

With over 25 years of experience in graduate and postgraduate medical education at the George Washington University, Leigh Anne Butler currently works on domestic programs in the Department of Health Policy and Management primarily in the area of health workforce equity. Her current projects include coordinating all three arms of the Atlantic Philanthropies award, the Beyond Flexner Conference along with the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Awards program for the conference, and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant on social mission metrics.   ​

For decades, the practice of medicine has slipped through doctors' hands, outsourced to executives and industry special interests. This is where RFHP offers hope. Physicians are exposed to the constellation of comorbidities  operating behind the proverbial curtain. From the structure of Medicare and reimbursements to drug pricing, workforce shortages, and the evolving needs of GME. The remedy of RHFP has made me a higher producer for my department, a more valuable resource to my colleagues, and a better doctor to my patients. 
                                                                                                     - Luis Dominguez, Senior Fellow 2018 ​