Kristi L. Kirschner, MD
Clinical Professor in the Departments of Medical Education, Neurology & Rehabilitation, and Medicine (Academic Internal Medicine)
Director of Undergraduate Education for the Department of Medical Education
Pronouns: She/Her
Contact
Building & Room:
986 CMET
Address:
MC 591
Office Phone:
Fax:
Email:
About
Kristi L. Kirschner, MD is a Clinical Professor in the Departments of Medical Education, Neurology & Rehabilitation, and Medicine (Academic Internal Medicine), and Director of Undergraduate Education in the Department of Medical Education. She is an Adjunct Professor, Department of Disability and Human Development within the College of Applied Health Sciences.
Dr. Kirschner’s academic interests include health humanities and bioethics with a particular focus on disability issues and marginalized populations; the training of health care professionals about health humanities, bioethics and disability; and health care access for people with disabilities including reproductive health services.
As background, she is a physician specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with particular interest in the needs of patients with complex neurological disabilities, including adults with spina bifida, neuromuscular diseases and cerebral palsy. She is a 1986 graduate of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and a fellow of the University of Chicago MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics (1994-1995). She completed her residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in 1990 at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and was an attending physician there until December of 2009. Concurrently, she was also on the faculty of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Medical Humanities and Bioethics, and PM&R. She was the founding director for the Donnelley Family Disability Ethics Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, serving in this role from 1995-2009. She was the inaugural special feature editor for the Ethics/ Law column in PM&R: Journal of Injury, Function and Rehabilitation from 2009-2015 the office scientific journal of the American Academy of PM&R www.pmrjournal.org/content/edboard. She was also one of the founders of the RIC Women with Disabilities Center and served as the medical director from 1991-2009. She served as the University of Illinois College of Medicine Health Humanities and Ethics curricula transformation lead from 2015-2024.
From 2010-2019 she practiced at Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital on the westside of Chicago, a safety net rehabilitation hospital. In 2019, she left her clinical practice at Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital to work on complex care and structural solutions in health reform. She is currently working with a team at UIHealth to build an interdisciplinary Lifespan Disability Clinic based in Academic Internal Medicine https://hospital.uillinois.edu/primary-and-specialty-care/disability-inclusive-care. Her current academic work is focused on disability ethics and the development and evaluation of health professional curricula around disability.
ORCHID:
Education
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (1986)
Internship in Internal Medicine, Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago(1986-87)
Residency in PM&R McGaw Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (1987-1990)
Fellowship in Clinical Medical Ethics at MacLean Center, University of Chicago (1994-95)