As the founder, president, and CEO of FamilyCare Health, Jeff Heatherington BA’65 has devoted his life to improving health outcomes in Oregon. Now, through a $6 million gift from FamilyCare Health and the Heatherington Foundation, he is paving the way for the next generation of health professionals.
This $6 million endowed gift, made in 2020 in Heatherington’s honor, supports Willamette undergraduates through scholarships, internships, programming, and a new staff position — empowering them to tackle some of the biggest challenges in healthcare and public health today.
“Solving our largest healthcare challenges begins with educating the future leaders of this field,” Heatherington says, “and there’s no better place to educate the type of leaders Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and the world need than at Willamette.”
Competitive scholarships: improving lives through public health
At the heart of the endowed gift is the Heatherington Scholars Program, which awards competitive scholarships to 10 to 12 undergraduates each year. Designed to attract and support students passionate about public and community health, each scholarship provides up to $11,500 annually.
Nardin Ishak BA’27 is one of the current Heatherington Scholars. The public health major and the Heatherington Scholars Program are why she applied to Willamette in the first place. In high school, she became a certified nursing assistant at a Portland hospital, and when she read about the public health program, she could tell that its approach to healthcare was “holistic and people-oriented.”
Now a double major in public health and biology, Ishak continues to work at the hospital on weekends, and her career goal is to become a hospitalist physician. Her favorite classes so far at Willamette have been Public Health Epidemiology and Introduction to Public Health.
The pre-health director: enhancing career guidance for students
The FamilyCare Pre-Health Director position, held by Claire Hoffman BA’12, has revolutionized how Willamette supports students pursuing careers in healthcare and public health. In collaboration with faculty members serving on the Health Professions Advisory Committee, Hoffman has cultivated relationships with potential employers, advised students about internship and graduate opportunities, and supported pathways into fields ranging from clinical care to healthcare administration.
“At the heart of many students’ motivation for pursuing work in healthcare is the desire to apply their interest in the sciences in a way that has a direct impact on others,” Hoffman says.
With Hoffman’s leadership, the Career Development Office has expanded its ability to help students explore and prepare for diverse career options in the health sector. Today, the Career Development Office has identified more than 350 current Willamette students who are interested in health professions–about twice the number prior to the creation of the pre-health director position.
Internships and programming: real-world experience
The Heatherington Pre-Health Internship and Research Fund and the Heatherington Public Health Programming Fund provide students with transformative opportunities to apply their learning in real-world contexts. Recently, Hoffman has employed these funds to help Ishak and other students attend the Oregon Public Health Conference, for example. There, competing against graduate students from other universities, Willamette undergraduates earned accolades for their poster presentations.
The funding has also enabled Hoffman to lead field trips to osteopathic medical schools and health profession fairs, as well as to help students obtain EMT certification and prepare for the medical school entrance exam.
Each summer, the Internship and Research Fund helps cover living expenses for students doing unpaid or underpaid internships or research. Recipients have worked with a variety of organizations.
“These experiences remove financial barriers and help students build confidence, gain mentors, and increase professional networks,” Hoffman says.
Jeff Heatherington: a lifetime of leadership and service
Heatherington’s own journey began at Willamette. A political science major, he also served as class song leader and was Barney Bearcat, the original Willamette mascot.
After founding FamilyCare Health in 1984, Heatherington spent more than three decades revolutionizing patient-centered care in Oregon. FamilyCare Health was the first health plan in Oregon to integrate models of physical and mental health and the first Coordinated Care Organization in the tri-county area certified by the Oregon Health Authority.
The Oregonian named FamilyCare Health as one of the state’s Top Workplaces from 2012 to 2017. In 2013, Heatherington spearheaded an initiative to pay primary care physicians at commercial rates, reducing overall costs and reinforcing the importance of patient-provider relationships.
FamilyCare Health established the Heatherington Foundation for Innovation and Education in Health in 2014.
Heatherington has served on many boards, including the Willamette Alumni Board of Directors, the Oregon Health Council, the Oregon State Bar Disciplinary Board, the Oregon Symphony, the Western University of Health Sciences, and the American Osteopathic Foundation. He was executive director of the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of Oregon for 30 years and is a founder of The College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest. He was also International President of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.
Heatherington holds an honorary degree from Western University of Health Sciences, a Distinguished Service Certificate from the American Osteopathic Association, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Osteopathic Foundation, a Distinguished Alumni Citation, and a Sparks Medallion from Willamette.
Today, his philanthropy reflects a desire to help prepare future leaders who are creative, inquisitive problem-solvers for the health sector.
“My political science professors at Willamette taught me how systems work and how to ask good questions,” he says. “My hope is that today’s students graduate with the same grounding, so that they can become confident leaders who make a difference in the world.”
