09/30/2023
Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month
Newsletter sent September 30, 2023, written by Maria Portela.
Hi! My name is Maria Portela. It’s a real honor to be invited as guest editor of the monthly newsletter of this fantastic community of social mission champions. I am a former AFHE fellow, Commonwealth Mongan Fellow, and belong to the core team at Social Mission Alliance (SMA), where I am the co-Director of the Health Workforce Diversity Initiative. Within George Washington, I am the Chief of Family Medicine and teach and work at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the intersection of Public Health, Health Policy, and Medicine.
Hispanic Heritage Month: Sept 15. - Oct. 15
In homage to Hispanic Heritage Month, I would like to highlight some of the many outstanding Hispanic individuals in our team working and leading work to achieve equity for individuals belonging to vulnerable populations.
Indira Islas, MPH, consultant at Bristol Myers Squibb, aspiring medical student and lead author of Documenting Latino representation in the US Health Workforce, featured in a recent issue of Health Affairs and its blog.
“As a Mexican American aspiring to become a physician, I personally resonate with the challenges faced by other Latinos in pursuing advanced education. Coupled with being a DACA recipient, I confront additional barriers to in my pursuit of a medical education. DACA recipients cannot apply to most medical schools in the US, but there is an even smaller number of medical schools that provide financial aid from private funds (as we cannot receive federal aid).”
Related coverage: Only 2 percent of U.S. doctors are Latina, despite diversity leading to better care for patients (19th News) and There are too few Latino doctors in the U.S., study finds (NPR).
Through my portfolio, I have the privilege of leading the HHS sponsored Health Equity Leaders Development Initiative, previously the Office of Minority Health (OMH) Minority Leaders Development Program (MLDP) at the Mullan Institute. The one-year program develops future federal leaders in public health and health equity that are underrepresented in federal government leadership positions, and is led in partnership with the Office of Minority Health. Last year we hosted one cohort of 6 fellows. By the end of the year, 4 of 6 fellows had secured a federal government role. Over subsequent newsletters I hope to highlight each of the fellows.
We are starting off showcasing Joel Fuentes, MHA, a previous OMH MLDP fellow, now Public Health Analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services, at the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration. Joel is a previous community organizer and congressional intern. He received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with minors in Spanish and Bioethics and a master’s degree in Bioethics and Medical Humanities with a concentration in Medicine, Society, and Culture. This is what Joel shared about the fellowship:
“This experience was a great entry point to a career in federal service. Having the support of like-minded individuals, a mentor, and leaders invested on my professional development, allowed me to grow in my mission of advancing health equity. I am eternally grateful that a program like this exists.”
Another graduating fellow who will be featured in a future newsletter, Yosselin Turcios, M.P.H., is a Public Health Analyst at the Office of the Secretary of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. The office hosted their first HHS Hispanic Health Summit this week featuring senior leadership including Secretary Becerra and others.
We are thrilled to share that our program has been refunded and we will be able to have 2 additional cohorts, one to start July 2024 and one in 2025!
Stay tuned for updates when applications open to share with your networks.
Resources
This August, the Social Mission Alliance SCOTUS working group discussed steps health professions education programs can take to promote health workforce diversity.
You can access the meeting recording, transcript, and review the meeting notes from this session.
Watch a summary (9 minutes)
Events happening soon
- Attend the AMA’s National Health Equity Grand Rounds event, Creating Accountability Through Data, livestreaming Tues., Oct. 10 from 2:00-3:30 PM ET
- You are invited to join Health Affairs on Tues., October 3 from 1- 5 PM ET for a virtual forum of distinguished authors presenting their work and engaging in discussions on topics including “Politics and the Legacy of Racism”; “Use Of Race And Ethnicity Data”; “Documenting Racism”; and “Responses to Racism.”
Register for this free event and see the speaker line-up -
AAMC Learn, Serve, Lead conference will be in Seattle from November 3-7, 2023. Attend the session happening November 4 “Race-Neutral Admissions — Effective Strategies From Three Medical Schools”
- The 2024 Gold Humanism Summit is meeting February 2024 to explore best practices and strategies to fuel change and inspire action.
More from Social Mission Alliance
This month, we welcomed 30 new fellows. The Residency Fellowship in Health Policy (RFHP) is a three-week fellowship for medical trainees interested in an intensive, short-term health policy rotation as part of their graduate medical education experience.
RFHP increases knowledge of key health policy issues impacting student’s local communities and the nation, thus preparing them to be effective physician-leaders in system-based practice.
You are invited to join on October 6, 10:45am -1:45 pm for the RFHP Fall 2023 Health Policy Analysis final presentations where scholars will highlight the latest policies, best practices, and innovative solutions to improve the lives and health of our communities.
Join us April 8-10, 2024 for a chance connect and learn from top health equity experts, share and discuss ground-breaking solutions advancing health equity, and engage in networking opportunities.
