Neurology department focuses on diversity initiatives

Sept. 23, 2021 – People are united by a need for and right to quality health care, regardless of anyone’s background. However, this is not always easily achieved due in part to historical situations and implicit biases.

Faculty, residents and students at the UF College of Medicine are making great strides toward equal access to care for underserved patients. The UF College of Medicine Department of Neurology recently established a Diversity and Inclusion Council dedicated to making all physicians, researchers and patients feel welcome when they give and receive care.

Maria Bruzzone Giraldez, M.D., co-chair of the council with Ashley Rawls, M.D., said the council started by creating small groups within the department to discuss topics related to diversity and inclusion were important to continually address.

The council comprises faculty, residents and an undergraduate student, which Bruzzone said offers a variety of perspectives.

“We try to include people from all different areas because we want to get everyone’s view,” she said.

The council has four project areas: diversity education, clinical care mentorship and community outreach. Diversity education includes cultural proficiency and implicit bias training for faculty, trainees and staff.

The clinical care project area is designed to help patient from diverse backgrounds feel safe and have open conversations with their care team. It also acknowledges the need to recruit faculty, staff and trainees from various backgrounds.

Mentorship involves facilitating mentor-mentee relationships and the establishment of diversity ambassadors, and community outreach focuses on creating free clinic programs to provide care for the underserved population.

Rawls said through one recent community outreach project, a grant from the Parkinson’s Foundation allowed faculty to visit African-American churches in Gainesville to educate members on movement disorders and schedule free clinic appointments.

“The idea is to decrease barriers of access to care,” Rawls said. “Brain, spinal cord and nerve issues can be daunting, so there’s a need to engage with underserved communities and make their experiences seeking care comforting.”

She continued by talking about the importance of diversity in caregivers: “It helps a patient to have someone there who looks like you, who may have had a similar background and understands where you’re coming from,” Rawls said.

Department Chair Michael Okun, M.D., said the importance of the council cannot be understated for the neurology team.

“We place the Neurology Diversity and Inclusion Council at the center of everything we do,” he said. “Every staff, trainee and faculty member have signed on to the four core values of our department: integrity above all, strength through diversity, compassion and respect and team and service before self.  It is not an accident that diversity is listed just after integrity.”

Rawls said that other College of Medicine departments who are interested in creating their own diversity and inclusion councils are welcome to ask the neurology department for guidance.

“It all starts with identifying the need,” she said.