Rachelle Yarros Community

Physician House Advising Faculty

Dr. Michael Charles

Dr. Michael Charles is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics. As an undergraduate, he studied Human Nutrition and Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He went on to complete both medical school and Med-Peds residency training at UIC. Dr. Charles is passionate about promoting healthy lifestyle habits and enjoys the management of complex health issues in his primary care clinics. He precepts residents in the Internal Medicine and Pediatric clinics as well as on the medicine wards.

Outside of UIC, Dr. Charles spends a lot of time with his wife, and his sisters. He likes learning new languages, in fact, he speaks 4 of them. He frequently dreams about  being a professional soccer player. Every year, he plays at the intramural soccer league with medical students, residents, and other attendings.

Dr. Rachael King

Dr. Rachael King is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at UIC. She is originally from Florida, completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida (go Gators!) with a bachelors of science in psychology and a minor in anthropology. She completed medical school at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine with a distinction in health disparities. Needing to leave the heat, she came to Chicago to complete her residency and chief year in internal medicine at UIC. She has an interest in underserved medicine, women’s health and recruitment of underrepresented minorities into medicine. She also has a love of cooking, traveling, and is a big fan of the Harry Potter book series.

Rachelle Yarros, MD (1869-1946)

Rachelle Slobindsky Yarros immigrated to the United States from Russia as a teenager. As a member of a revolutionist political party, she always feared being arrested by the Czar’s police. In the US, she worked in a sweatshop before enrolling as the first woman to enter in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Boston. She finished medical school at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, then moved to Chicago to complete her residency at Michael Reese Hospital. Yarros spent the next 40 years on faculty at University of Illinois in women’s health. She was a resident of Hull House, the famous social settlement that nurtured leaders in social welfare. She was a leader in the birth control movement, and she challenged the attitudes, policies, and practices that denied women access to birth control information and devices. She established the first birth control clinics throughout the city of Chicago; she was a dedicated campaigner for sex education for women.

Achievements

In 1914, Dr. Yarros helped found the American Social Hygiene Association,which today is known as the American Sexual Health Association. She also founded and directed the Illinois Birth Control League.

In 1923, Dr. Yarros opened the second birth control clinic in the United States and by 1930, Chicago had 8 birth control clinics throughout the city, more than any other American city.

Full Bio