Dr. Rita Rossi-Foulkes received her medical degree from Rush Medical College. She completed her Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Under the auspices of an Illinois Underserved Primary Care Scholarship, Dr. Rossi-Foulkes joined an urban underserved primary care practice affiliated with Rush University Medical Center. When the Rush Medicine-Pediatrics residency program opened, she was appointed the Associate Program Director, and later became Program Director. Her interest in preventive medicine led her to pursue a master’s degree in clinical science and research at Rush University.

In 2006, Dr. Rossi-Foulkes was recruited to the Department of Medicine at University of Chicago to lead the combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency program. Her work has been recognized with the Department’s Award for Clinical Excellence and Education and induction as a Fellow into the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators. She created the inter-professional, university-wide Transition Care Steering Committee with the mission to improve the care of adolescents of young adults with chronic conditions of childhood. She also founded the Med-Peds PATHways program (Program for Adolescent and Adult Transitions to Health), an in and out-patient consultation service to help providers, patients and families secure resources to improve the process of transition from pediatric- to adult-centered care. Since 2010, Dr. Rossi-Foulkes has served as an advisor to the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Transition Task Force. From 2008 through 2012, she also served as the Secretary-Treasurer for the Medicine-Pediatrics Program Directors Association.

Most recently, Dr. Rossi-Foulkes contributed to the attainment of the HRSA-funded LUCENT program (Leadership for Urban Primary Care Education and Transformation- with Deborah Burnet as PI) and will serve as a LUCENT faculty member. She serves on the University of Chicago Medicine Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT+) Committee and will start volunteering at the C2P (Care to Prevent) Clinic, which offers services to LGBT+ youth on the South Side of Chicago. As the advisor to Pritzker medical student board for Community Health Center, she leads student efforts to improve care delivery at a free clinic on the West Side of Chicago and volunteers at the Washington Park free clinic.