1. < Message from the Chair

As a department we are committed to advancing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in health care, research, and education. This week I highlight the individuals and teams whose dedication exemplify our unwavering commitment to improving the well-being of all members of our department of medicine (DoM) family and the diverse communities we serve. Their contributions are bringing change and setting the standards for excellence in our field. Join me in celebrating these LEADERS.

Advancing Health Equity: Vi Nguyen, MD Reflects on Transformative Experience at Venice Family Clinic

As part of our commitment to building health equity and community engagement, we have been building partnerships with colleagues at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). These partnerships allow us to provide rigorous and rewarding training opportunities for our residents, and provide the opportunity for DoM faculty to extend specialty and subspecialty care to medically underserved communities. Our work with FQHCs has been incredibly rewarding, benefiting both our department and FQHC partners. We will continue to identify opportunities for collaboration and expand our engagement throughout the diverse communities of central and southern California. 

We know health is so much more than medicines and tests, but it is another thing to see such a multimodal approach to health all within the same roof(s). On the individual scale, it’s been incredible to see people connecting with fitness and joy in the Latin Groove dance class, getting access to fresh food in the free food market and through CalFresh with help from the insurance team, having their medications delivered in potentially pharmacy-drought neighborhoods, and finding means to address their substance use with low-barrier buprenorphine. On a systems level, it’s also been eye-opening to see teams advocating for grants to support their services and the clinic, to see dentistry prioritizing vulnerable populations like pregnant patients and operating as best they can within the confines of Medi-Cal payments, and to see the blossoming of behavioral health to nearly double its size in seven years to serve its community’s needs. It shows me that operational growth is possible and something I can help strive for if there is an identified need.

On an interpersonal scale, I’ve also been thinking about the pearls that Allison from SUMMIT and Lizeth casually dropped about meeting people where they’re at. Lizeth had me realize I haven’t stopped to ask a patient about their prior knowledge or understanding of diabetes when I’m calling them about a new A1c of 6.5%, salient particularly as many people know that diabetes can become a devastating disease, and Allison has reminded me that the most effective way to help folks with behavioral change is to connect with their goals and motivations. I feel that this human focus can fall by the wayside in residency, even though it’s critical in providing compassionate and effective care, so this reminder to strive to see people as fully as possible is a very welcome one.

In terms of my takeaways for my future career, my desire to serve patients who have had less access to healthcare has not changed but I know better that I’d want to seek work in a multidisciplinary team because I have been reminded that health is intrinsically multidisciplinary. I’d also like to seek a future work environment filled with people who focus on the full patient so that we can help reinforce this mindset for each other, as I know that medicine can have a tendency towards reducing people into their illnesses. Wherever I end up, I’ll also need to learn how to navigate potential barriers like insurance and to learn fully about my community’s resources because I’ve seen how VFC’s community programs are their own highly effective prescription. All to say, thank you for this opportunity to get to meet the patients and staff at VFC, a community whose warmth I felt even as a visitor, and I hope to carry forward this warmth and the many models of patient advocacy and connection that I’ve seen here.”

Thanks for sharing this transformative experience with us Vi! We are proud to call you a colleague and LEADER who represents the values of the DoM in the community.

Mentoring the Next Generation of LEADERS: DoM Faculty Mentor First Generation and Early Career Faculty

As we seek to develop the leaders that will drive the future of medicine and health sciences, we will ensure that they reflect the diversity seen in the communities we serve. As a department we are proud to support the efforts of First Gen @ DGSOM who recently hosted their annual First Gen Mixer on August 15^th. As students, trainees, faculty and staff gathered to celebrate and network with their peers, we invited DoM faculty to share their reflections about the impact of how mentorship and community influenced their journey in academic medicine. Hear from Drs. Efrain Talamantes, Alejandra Casillas, Daniel Gonzalez, Lucinda Leung, Veronica Ramirez, Cristina Valdovinos, and medical students Osiel Cecenas and Ricky Rios.

DGSOM JAM Program Mentors

Next, I introduce you to DoM faculty who have been selected to serve on the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Academic Mentorship (JAM) Council by the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Established in 2022, the JAM Council is a program composed of an intensive one-year fellowship of mentorship training combined with extensive coaching, networking, and mentoring opportunities aimed at expanding the professional development and retention of faculty from groups that are underrepresented in academic medicine. The JAM Council program has been specially developed for faculty at the assistant professor level who demonstrate potential for careers in academic medicine and health leadership. Acceptance into JAM is determined through an annual competitive selection process in which approximately 30 candidates are chosen each year. 

As JAM mentors, they are instrumental in guiding and supporting the academic and professional growth of early career faculty. Additionally, mentors have critical roles in advising on program strategies and initiatives that will help ensure that the JAM Program is meeting the evolving needs of mentees.

Their commitment is vital for fostering a productive and supportive environment for our early career faculty. Drs. Neveen El-Farra, Tannaz Moin, Susanne Nicholas, and Eric Yang share a few reflections speaking to their inspiration for serving in this LEADERShip role.

“Mentorship has always been one of my professional goals and brings me great joy and gives me a sense of meaning and purpose in the work I do. Watching my mentees achieve their goals and contribute to the practice and field of medicine in a variety of ways is incredibly gratifying. Serving as a mentor in the JAM program also allows me to connect with faculty who have shared interests in promoting our mission of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Working with some of the faculty this past year to creatively explore how we can deliver care to our most vulnerable patients across the Los Angeles has been a highlight of my participating in the program! I feel privileged to be part of an institution that has a vast array of career opportunities for our faculty to pursue.”

Neveen S. El-Farra, MD

"Effective research mentoring relationships are critical at every career stage, but especially for our rising generation of physicians, physician scientists and researchers. When junior faculty who have navigated intersectional barriers associated with marginalized and/or underrepresented experiences succeed, we all succeed."

Tannaz Moin, MD, MBA, MSHS

“Being a senior mentor in the JAM Program is very important to me. I know first-hand the importance of mentorship during a critical time of your academic growth. Having the wisdom and expertise of those who went before me would have significantly changed the trajectory of my career. Therefore, I spend a significant amount of time making sure that I am available to trainees and junior faculty locally/within UCLA, but also with those I interact with at national/international meetings, to provide guidance and suggestions intended to assist with difficult career decisions. As an investigator on several NIH grants that offer training opportunities/fellowships to graduate students, predoctoral students, postdoctoral students, fellows and junior faculty, being a senior member of the JAM program aligns well with this aspect of my own professional goals.”

Susanne Nicholas, MD, MPH, PhD

"The role of being a mentor in any capacity, in my opinion, is one of the most rewarding things you can do in life. To be a mentor, especially at UCLA where we are able to work with some of the most passionate and brightest people committed to making a difference in healthcare and its disparities and equity, is something I regard as a unique privilege to help our rising faculty navigate the complex landscape of UCLA and healthcare to be the best they can be. As someone who is committed to medical education and clinical care in my other professional roles, I find that being a JAM mentor is a natural extension of my goals to help junior faculty in helping us overall in overcoming these systematic barriers and challenges."

Eric Yang, MD

I’d also like to note that in addition to serving on the JAM Council Board & Steering Committee, Dr. Moin co-leads the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) Entering Mentoring and Enhancing Mentoring training that all JAM mentors and mentees receive each year. The CIMER curricula provides training in evidence-based and culturally responsive interventions to enhance mentoring relationships at all career stages and aims to promote excellence in research mentoring. 

Thank you JAM mentors for your incredible work and support of our early career faculty.

Celebrating 40 Years of WIN: Highlights from the 5^th Annual Women in Nephrology Leadership Conference

On August 9th and 10th 2024, Women In Nephrology (WIN) held its 5th Annual Leadership Conference at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. This year was unique as WIN also celebrated 40 years in existence with the conference theme: 40 Years of WIN’ing: A Legacy of Leadership!!!

As the largest, international, non-profit, women-led organization in the field of nephrology, WIN has provided professional development, mentorship, leadership skills training to women and men trainees, fellows and junior faculty, and supported kidney-related research on women’s health for the past four decades! Indeed, WIN was the vision of four women nephrology leaders: Drs. Nancy E. Gary, Sandra Levison, Lois Katz and Mabel Purkerson, who recognized the need to advance leadership opportunities for women in nephrology.

The hybrid conference was attended by international participants from Egypt, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, Canada and Poland. Keynote speakers were world renowned, Dr. Katherine Tuttle, executive director for research at Providence Inland Northwest Health, who spoke on “Building your Academic Career Portfolio” and Dr. Julie Ingelfinger, deputy editor at the New England Journal of Medicine since 2001, who spoke on “My Career Path Towards Leadership”. They provided meaningful advice on their successes as well as challenges while navigating their career paths towards excellence.

Conference participants learned a great deal from talks on “Recognizing your Ikigai”; “Leading in Science: Always Forward Never Straight”; and “Leading through Institutional Exigency”. Topics on gender equity included: “Kidney Disease Improving: Global Outcome Effort to Enhance Sex Inclusion and Diversity”, “Surveying Gender Equity in Academic Medicine” and “Guidance on Reproductive Planning in Chronic Kidney Disease”. Expert panelists spoke on “How to be Efficient as a Leader in Academia and Industry”; and “Managing your Career Through Personal Crisis” while networking sessions discussed “The Art of Self-promotion” and “The Art of Time Management”. Awards were presented to oral and poster abstract presenters.

Attendees indicated that both the conference and 40th year dinner celebration were a resounding success! Testimonials from attendees included: “I liked the maintained excellence in every talk. There was not a single weak talk. I was watching late at night two days in a row and did not miss a single talk. It was so interesting that I did not feel tired. I cried during the personal crisis session, and that was such an important experience”; “All of the presentations were phenomenal”; “Every presentation and talk was spot on”, “I love the personal stories”; “Liked to hear women leaders who are well renown in their field talk about not just their life stories but their passion for their areas of expertise and why they (are) passionate about it”. The 2025 WIN Leadership Conference will be held in New York.

Congratulations Susanne for your leadership and for organizing such a successful meeting.

DoM Office of EDI: Fostering Connections, Understanding, and Equity in the DoM

Lastly, I would like to give a shout out to our department’s office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. The DoM Office of EDI has been at the forefront of implementing programs and initiatives that build connection and support for our faculty, trainees and staff. Between January and June 2024, this exceptional team has conducted over 50 education sessions and meetings that has engaged over 500 participants from the DoM. They include:

• Onboarding new faculty through three EDI related education sessions that explore bias in clinical medicine, microaggressions, and fostering an inclusive learning environment.

• Resident didactic sessions focused on addressing microaggressions in the clinical setting, structural competency and social determinants of health, and advocacy in medicine.

• Building community through the Women in Medicine Group which hosts zoom meetings and picnics inviting women faculty to share perspectives on addressing the challenges faced in the journey of academic medicine.

• Leading six EDI focused grand rounds which highlighted EDI related topics and/or special observances such as Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, AAAPI Heritage Month.

• Implementing the Lunch & Learn series which has reached staff from 16 out of 18 divisions in the DoM. Over the past five meetings, participants have gathered to provide feedback on EDI related activities and programming in the department. The team recently launched the monthly Leaning Into New Knowledge in July to further dive into EDI related topics and support connection to our missions.

I am pleased to learn that surveys from these initiatives share that 90% of participants report an improved understanding of EDI information, increased cultural competency, and expanding their focus on equity. We look forward to introducing more programming to our department over the coming years to ensure that we are LEADERS whose decision-making is guided by EDI principles.

Dale

P.S.

I recently learned that today, Monday, August 26^th is National Dog Day. Our amazing communications team put out a call for pictures of DoM pups for a social media post. We were initially not sure what the response would be, but not surprisingly many responded and so much so, that we have produced a video celebrating the furry, four-legged friends of our faculty, trainees, and staff. Enjoy!

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