About CHAMPEIS

About the Chicago Health Academy for Medical and Pharmacy Education Interdisciplinary Studies

The Chicago Health Academy for Medical and Pharmacy Education Interdisciplinary Studies (CHAMPEIS) is an educational initiative designed to connect health sciences education with interdisciplinary learning, community engagement, and pathways into healthcare careers.

CHAMPEIS approaches health education as more than the study of individual subjects. Medicine, pharmacy, mathematics, biology, chemistry, public health, technology, and the social sciences intersect when students investigate real health problems.

Our educational model therefore encourages learners to connect disciplines rather than study them in isolation.

Our Mission

The mission of CHAMPEIS is to provide accessible interdisciplinary learning experiences that help students develop the scientific knowledge, quantitative reasoning, problem-solving abilities, and collaborative skills needed for continued education and careers in the health sciences.

Our Vision

CHAMPEIS envisions a learning environment in which students can progressively move from foundational mathematics and science into increasingly sophisticated applications in medicine, pharmacy, public health, research, and healthcare technology.

The academy seeks to make these pathways understandable and accessible while maintaining strong connections to the communities that healthcare ultimately serves.

What We Study

CHAMPEIS organizes learning around several interconnected areas:

• Medical Education — anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, clinical reasoning, patient care, and disease processes.
• Pharmacy Education — pharmacology, medication safety, pharmaceutical calculations, therapeutics, and medication management.
• Mathematics and Data Science — quantitative reasoning, statistics, mathematical modeling, dosage calculations, epidemiology, and health data.
• Biomedical Sciences — biology, chemistry, cellular processes, genetics, and laboratory sciences.
• Public and Urban Health — population health, prevention, health disparities, environmental health, and social determinants of health.
• Artificial Intelligence and Health Technology — responsible exploration of AI, simulation, informatics, data analysis, and emerging healthcare technologies.
• Interdisciplinary Research — projects that require students to combine concepts from several fields to investigate health-related questions.

Our Interdisciplinary Approach

A central principle of CHAMPEIS is that a single healthcare problem can be examined from multiple perspectives.

For example, a student investigating diabetes might study:

Biology → How does the body regulate glucose?

Chemistry → What molecular processes are involved?

Mathematics → How can glucose measurements and trends be analyzed?

Medicine → How is diabetes recognized and managed clinically?

Pharmacy → How do medications affect glucose regulation?

Nutrition → How does food affect glucose?

Public Health → How does diabetes affect communities and populations?

Data Science and AI → How can health data be analyzed to identify patterns and support learning?

This interdisciplinary process allows a health problem to become a complete learning environment.

Learning Through Cases, Projects, and Simulation

CHAMPEIS will use educational approaches that move beyond reading information alone. Blog resources may include:

• Tutorials
• Clinical case studies
• Mathematical investigations
• Laboratory activities
• Research projects
• Community-health investigations
• Data-analysis exercises
• Healthcare simulations
• AI-assisted learning activities
• Career exploration

These activities are intended for education and simulation and are not substitutes for professional medical diagnosis or treatment.

Chicago as a Learning Environment

The word Chicago is important to the identity of CHAMPEIS.

Community health provides opportunities to connect classroom concepts with questions involving environmental conditions, access to healthcare, chronic disease, nutrition, medication access, education, and other factors influencing health.

CHAMPEIS can therefore use Chicago-centered educational cases and projects to help learners understand the relationship between science, healthcare systems, neighborhoods, and population health.

Who Is CHAMPEIS For?

CHAMPEIS is being developed as a pathway that can support learners at different stages, including students exploring health and STEM careers, undergraduate learners, and students preparing for advanced health-science education.

Rather than expecting every learner to begin with professional-level knowledge, CHAMPEIS emphasizes progression:

Foundation → Exploration → Application → Integration → Research

Students can begin with foundational concepts and gradually apply them to increasingly complex interdisciplinary problems.

Relationship to We Convene

CHAMPEIS can function as the health-sciences education branch of We Convene Home and School Tutoring Services.

Within that larger educational framework, We Convene can provide foundational academic support while CHAMPEIS develops specialized pathways connecting mathematics and science to medicine, pharmacy, public health, research, and healthcare technology.

Building the Academy

CHAMPEIS is a developing educational initiative. This blog will document that development while gradually building a collection of educational materials, interdisciplinary projects, research activities, and community-health learning resources.

The goal is not simply to create another collection of health information.

The goal is to create a pathway where students learn how mathematics, science, technology, healthcare, and communities connect.