Health Equity Fellow Reflects on Experience

On his Health Equity Fellowship work: “The ultimate goal is not just maximizing the time that I have during this fellowship year, but really making this partnership that I established sustainable. Long after I graduate, my program director, who is actually a former Health Equity Fellow (Paul Ravenna, M.D.), plans to absorb that program into our community medicine curriculum so that other future community college students will benefit as well.”

On what he’s learned during the fellowship: “I have learned to be more mindful — not that I wasn’t before; more intentional, maybe, is the word — of patients’ backgrounds and their needs beyond the medical aspect of a treatment plan. Really understanding the background limitations that they might have… and asking myself, with each encounter, ‘How can I maximize the chance for that patient’s success in engaging with the treatment plan?’”

On surprises: “In terms of what has surprised me, I think how fast the year has gone by and how rewarding this experience has been in terms of not only getting to implement a project with tangible outcomes, but also interacting with folks like the health equity team at the Academy… I think that we all learn best from folks that we find inspirational or that we have a connection with and not only the staff at the AAFP, but I am also learning from my co-fellows… I can go on and on. The surprises have been wonderful, and they keep coming.

On his growth as a family physician: “I think any sort of doctor will benefit greatly from being mindful of health disparities and the causes behind health disparities… but also, as a family physician and as a person, beyond the wonderful friendships that I was able to make in this fellowship, I see the fellowship not only informing my knowledge of very real inequities in our health system, but also posing the question, ‘Now that you know about these issues, what are you doing about it?’ I really see this fellowship as a wonderful opportunity to provide your own answer.”

On lessons from the experience: “We have here a wonderful program for high school students called the Discovery Program… I was talking to the coordinator of that program when she learned about my fellowship and said, ‘I’m eager to help. How can I help you?’ I’m going to bring these community college students, and I already have a partner that knows all of the forms that need to be filled out, and all of the things that I wouldn’t know where to begin… This is just one small example of something that I learned: If you have a plan, you can search and look around you, and odds are that there are going to be resources that you can use to maximize your chances for success.

On overcoming difficulties: “Health equity work is not easy. And the answer to keep me motivated and anyone else who's trying to implement any project is, look for your allies. Look for your mentors. Look for your partners. That has worked out well for me so far.”

On leadership: “Ultimately I see myself, no matter what type of practice or mix that I have in my practice, really working to address the health disparities that make the health system not ideal. Really working to fix a system that is broken, not only within the clinical setting, but also using my influence as a physician and a former Health Equity Fellow to help shape policies… that will address the causes of the inequities.”

On students who are underrepresented in medicine: “I once heard the advice that we should spend a third of our time with folks who are at our same level and striving for the same thing, a third of our time with folks who are where we want to be, and a third of our time with folks who are aspiring to be where we are… The idea is to always be humble and working toward our objectives, but also helping others achieve theirs as well.