FP Leader Advances Health Equity Through Teaching
Q&A with 2023 Health Equity Fellow Erin Kavanaugh, M.D.
April 21, 2023, Michael Devitt — A few hours before sitting down for a conversation with AAFP News, Erin Kavanaugh, M.D., had an encounter with a patient that left her almost at a loss for words.
Kavanaugh and her patient, a young man who had been in the country only a few years, did not speak the same language. Multiple attempts with a translation app seemed to make things worse.
“Finding common language together was a significant challenge,” Kavanaugh said.
“He’s doing amazing things and the difficulties he has encountered, I have never had to think about, and it was overwhelming,” Kavanaugh said. “What would I do if I was in his shoes? What would I do if I … if no one understood me? He was not frustrated, (but) I don’t think I did anything helpful during that visit.”
As one of the 2023 class of AAFP Health Equity Fellows, Kavanaugh — a practicing family physician and interim chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at ChristianaCare, a private not-for-profit health system headquartered in Delaware, as well as program director for ChristianaCare’s family medicine residency program and co-director of its emergency medicine/family medicine residency program — is determined to ensure that those types of patient visits become a thing of the past.
“My job is focused on teaching,” she said. “Learning more about health equity, really understanding and carrying that concept forward is very powerful.”
Kavanaugh opens up in this video interview about topics including:
Health equity and COVID-19: “I have always been committed to meeting my patients where they are, focusing on having everyone reaching their full potential, but until very recently, I do not think that I was savvy enough to describe that as an interest in health equity.
“I am at an inflection point in my career, largely as part of coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic experience as a residency program director ... Here we are, and we have done so many new things and made so many changes in health care, and it is not enough. There are still gaps. There is still work that needs to be done.”
Her capstone project on aligning the family medicine and emergency medicine/family medicine residency with community needs: “What I am looking to do is purposefully line up an interested and engaged workforce with a community who really has a variety of needs for their overall health — some of them medical, some of them social — and partner very intentionally in a way that everyone learns, everyone grows, and everyone is given an opportunity to flourish.
“... What I am seeking to understand is what the community would like from their local residency program. It might be health care; it might not be. Ultimately, I would like to be able to deliver on those needs.”
How her work will impact patient care: “Mine is particularly focused on this community and the academic component — the residents — learning to understand their community better. I’m hoping that will then impact these amazing family physicians similarly to how a stone is thrown into a pond; there’s a ripple effect from every pebble.
“... (It is about) giving them a skill set to then take to their own communities in an impactful way going forward. Certainly, I hope that some of them stay within this community and continue this work, but I know that some of them are going to go wherever home is for them, or are going to start fresh in a different community elsewhere.”
How to start addressing health equity: “I think it can be hard to know where to begin. The AAFP resources, especially the EveryONE project, are incredibly helpful and a really great place to start.”
The power of advocacy in addressing health equity: “When I was a young physician, I heard people say how important advocacy was, and of course (I thought) ‘Yes, I understand that.’ Now that I am here, with a mid-career lens, I have a much better sense of what it all means.
“Advocacy is a key tool to leading change and it really is the answer to a lot of the questions. The physician voice is very powerful. We are on the ground level providing care every day. We see the ‘it,’ we understand all the different issues at play. Our voices must remain loud and strong.”
Results of the 2023 Match: “We did great. We are so happy. I am so proud of each and every program and all the hard work they do every day. Family medicine needs to continue to tell the world how awesome it is. Together we can move mountains, and we must continue to share with everyone the power of primary care.”
Learn more on the AAFP Health Equity Fellowship webpage, and check back for more stories from the 2023 class.