Associate Program Director and Service Chief of Inpatient Addiction Medicine
PCC Community Wellness/ West Suburban Hospital/Rush University
Rush University
Ruchi M. Fitzgerald, MD, FAAFP is a family physician and an addiction medicine physician. She is the Service Chief of Inpatient Addiction Medicine at PCC Community Wellness, a federally qualified health center system that serves the West Side of Chicago. Dr. Fitzgerald is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Rush University, as well as the Associate Program Director of the Rush Addiction Medicine Fellowship. She completed the addiction medicine fellowship at Rush University in 2020. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School and completed her family medicine residency in 2012 with the Montana Family Medicine Residency. Dr. Fitzgerald developed an interest in provision of care for underserved populations and those affected by substance use disorders during her residency. Dr. Fitzgerald also has extensive experience in telemedicine. During her fellowship, Dr. Fitzgerald worked with the addiction medicine faculty to create RISE-MD (Rush Integrative Substance Use Disorder Education for Medical Doctors), an educational initiative in Rush Medical College that focuses on eliminating stigma while promoting evidence-based treatment of substance use disorders in the next generation of physicians. She has worked with the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the Illinois Society of Addiction Medicine on key advocacy and policy initiatives related to substance use disorders. Dr. Fitzgerald is also an active member of the Federation of State Physician Health Programs and is an advocate for physician health and wellness.
