Creating change at every level
UF College of Medicine builds network of diversity liaisons from each department
Aug. 31, 2022 — In the medical field, providing high-quality, personalized and equitable patient care is a top priority. Expanding diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts is one path the University of Florida College of Medicine is taking to help teach the next generation and facilitate the best health care possible.
Under the leadership of Donna M. Parker, M.D. ’90, associate dean for diversity and health equity, the college is engaging all its branches with DEI on a structural level by creating a network of faculty diversity liaisons representing and serving every department. The project is part of the diversity, inclusion and health care equity pillar of the college’s strategic plan, launched by Dean Colleen Koch, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., in December.
Donna M. Parker, M.D. ’90, associate dean for diversity and health equity
“Many important decisions are made at the departmental level, so, in keeping with that structure, I thought it was important for departments to each have a representative,” Parker said. “We are not one-size-fits-all. We have a lot of stakeholders who will benefit from this.”
For students, she said, a sense of belonging is fostered in an inclusive learning environment. Resident and faculty recruitment and retention is also bolstered when colleagues understand each other. Educating providers at all levels in culturally competent care will help build a healthier nation.
“We are really preparing our learners and our peers to better care for patients from all backgrounds and walks of life,” Parker said.
Selected by their department chairs, the diversity liaisons will serve on departmental leadership teams and collaborate across the college to promote and celebrate workplace diversity and inclusion, as well as advance health care equity and access. As a network, they will also work with the Office for Diversity and Health Equity and other college DEI champions, including students, staff, residents, fellows and alumni, to advise the dean’s office on relevant issues and continue to refine the college’s strategic priorities.
Jimmy Brown, M.D., D.D.S., FACS, chief of comprehensive otolaryngology
Jimmy Brown, M.D., D.D.S., FACS, chief of comprehensive otolaryngology at UF, is the newly appointed DEI liaison for the College of Medicine’s department of otolaryngology. Originally from Port Antonio, Jamaica, Brown studied dentistry before becoming interested in medicine and went back to school after completing an oral cancer fellowship.
Throughout his career studying, teaching and serving patients across the U.S. in multiple historically Black colleges and universities, the military and various other institutions, Brown has found mentorship to be a critical tool for DEI. He said talking to learners of all ages can help facilitate a pipeline for underserved students to medical schools like UF’s.
As a liaison, he said he has three goals: First, to recognize and teach colleagues in his department the importance of recruiting a diverse workforce and tackling inequities in health care; second, to look into the factors limiting the number of applicants and medical workers from underrepresented backgrounds and see what can be changed; and third, to create a comfortable and happy environment where minority workers and students want to stay and help recruit the next generation.
Mar’Tina Wimberly, M.D. ’17, DEI liaison for the department of community health and family medicine
Mar’Tina Wimberly, M.D. ’17, is another new DEI liaison for the department of community health and family medicine at UF. As an African American woman from the South, she did not see many female physicians or people of color in health care growing up. But she knows having better representation improves access to and quality of care, as well as community connection in education and the medical field.
During her time as a student at the College of Medicine, Wimberly said, Parker and the Office for Diversity and Health Equity were the reason she made it through medical school. As a clinical assistant professor who joined the faculty in 2020 and became a DEI liaison in July, she wants to pay it forward and be that role model for others. She also hopes to help address the need for more development and promotion resources for minority faculty members.
“The UF College of Medicine has made great strides with the diversity of the medical school, the residency groups and the faculty,” Wimberly said. “But there’s always room for improvement. I’ve been very impressed with how Dean Koch has started making those connections with individual departments … That just speaks to where we’re going and how serious she is about helping us get there.”
So far, 16 departments and the UF School of Physician Assistant Studies have appointed diversity liaisons. The remaining departments will appoint liaisons by Sept. 9. Faculty and staff with questions or suggestions for how to advance DEI can contact their department’s liaison to get involved and help champion efforts. See a list of appointed liaisons below. The full list will be available on the Office for Diversity and Health Equity website once it is finalized later this fall.
- John Aris, Ph.D., department of anatomy and cell biology
- Ludmila Barbosa De Faria, M.D., department of psychiatry
- Jimmy Brown, M.D., D.D.S., FACS, department of otolaryngology
- Maria Bruzzone Giraldez, M.D., department of neurology
- Curtis Bryant, M.D., M.P.H., department of radiation oncology
- Gemma Casadesus, Ph.D., department of pharmacology and therapeutics
- Giuliano De Portu, M.D., FACEP, department of emergency medicine
- Levette Dunbar, M.D., department of pediatrics
- Irene Estores, M.D., department of physical medicine and rehabilitation
- Catherine Flores, Ph.D., department of neurosurgery
- David Indarawis, MPAS, School of Physician Assistant Studies
- Crystal Johnson-Mann, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, FASMBS, department of surgery
- Mary Jo Koroly, Ph.D., department of biochemistry and molecular biology
- Nadja Makki, Ph.D., department of anatomy and cell biology
- Jeremy McIntyre, Ph.D., department of neuroscience
- Tan-Lucien Mohammed, M.D., FACR, department of radiology
- Marjorie Montanez-Wiscovich, M.D., Ph.D., FAAD, department of dermatology
- Mar’Tina Wimberly, M.D., department of community health and family medicine
