ADI Highlights
MSTP Foundations in Health and Research Equity Course
The MSTP Anti-racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (ADI) Council recently piloted all four sessions of a new Foundations in Health and Research Equity (FHRE) course for MSTP students, created in partnership with the Office of Health Equity. This course is intended to provide future physician-scientists with knowledge and skills related to health equity and its application in clinical care and biomedical research with the goals of improving patient outcomes and combating scientific racism. The full course includes four two-hour sessions. Two sessions were piloted in 2022, and based on student feedback, improvements were made for the 2023 iteration. The full expert-led sessions included 1) Introduction to Health Equity and Systemic Racism with Kia Jarmon, 2) Culturally Aware Mentorship and Advocacy in Science with Dr. Digna Velez Edwards, 3) Community Engaged Participatory Research, Cultural Humility, and Health Literacy with Tiffany Israel, and 4) Assessing Social Contributors to Health in Research with Dr. Tiye Link and Lisa Binkley from Nashville CARES and Dr. Peter Rebeiro. These sessions provided an enlightening perspective on how to engage with antiracism, diversity, and inclusion efforts throughout a physician-scientist career. The course was very well received and garnered the support and recommendation for all student engagement from participants. The ADI looks forward to continuing to improve the course and for more student participation for next year’s offering. A huge thank you to our experts for participating and to ADI Council members Dr. Danny Sack (‘23), Sarah Reed, Candace Grisham, and Kevin Zhang for their immense work in organizing and planning the course!
From Vanderbilt Medicine Magazine: Q + A: Lourdes Estrada, PhD
Lourdes Estrada, PhD, associate director of Academic Programs & Operations for the Medical Scientist Training Program, is the newly named assistant dean of Health Equity Education in the School of Medicine. Dr. Estrada is also a professor of Biochemistry, and director of Vanderbilt Academy for Excellence in Education. Read her Q+A from the Vanderbilt Medicine Magazine.