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Josiah Bote accepts the Graduate Medical Education Reducing Health Care Disparities Award from Deborah DeMarco |
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Sara Adams, recipient of the Cultural Competence in Medicine Award, with presenter Eric Dickson |
UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Health Care observed National Minority Health Month on Wednesday, April 11, with a presentation by keynote speaker Brooke Cunningham, MD, PhD, and awards for reducing health care disparities and cultural competence in medicine. The event was hosted by the Diversity and Inclusion Office.
Dr. Cunningham, assistant professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Minnesota, discussed how she has built partnerships to address racial bias and disparities in health care. A sociologist and an internist, Cunningham serves a diverse population of patients, most of who live in poverty, at a federally qualified health clinic in Minneapolis.
Following the keynote, awards recognizing clinical excellence in reducing health care disparities and cultural competence in medicine were presented to UMMS–UMass Memorial clinicians.
Deborah DeMarco, MD, professor of medicine, senior associate dean for clinical affairs and associate dean of graduate medical education, presented the Graduate Medical Education Reducing Health Care Disparities Award to Josiah Bote, MD. Dr. Bote, a 2016 UMMS graduate and a second-year internal medicine resident at UMass Memorial Medical Center, co-leads the School of Medicine’s Mentoring Circle Program. The program provides students and residents from underrepresented groups with enhanced professional growth opportunities and faculty mentoring.
“Josiah is also very active in the community, and is known as a wonderful citizen in his residency program,” said Dr. DeMarco. “We know that his future work in reducing health care disparities will become an important part of his career.”
Sara Adams, LMHC, assistant director of quality management for Community Healthlink, accepted the Cultural Competence in Medicine Award from Eric Dickson, MD, president and chief executive officer of UMass Memorial Health Care.
“Sarah’s nominator praised her for her 10-year commitment to improving cultural competency at CHL in the areas of caregiver relations and client services, especially her roles in the diversity inclusion group for caregivers and implementing culturally and linguistically appropriate services standards,” said Dr. Dickson. The standards were developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health to work toward eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities.
