DIVERSITY
A letter from our Chief Resident of Health Equity
Welcome to Brown EM! As a residency, we strive to engage diverse applicants, and support our current residents, from all backgrounds—racial, ethnic, gender and sexual identities—and life experiences—those with disabilities or who have lived with financial hardship. We focus on cultivating a culture of equitable care for our Providence communities, anti-racism, personalized mentorship, and community-building.
One way we support these goals is through the dedicated role of the Health Equity Chief Resident. This chief resident invests in fostering an inclusive environment for residents and addressing specific concerns related to diversity and equity in our hospital system. They also help organize monthly resident dinners, community engagement events, and lectures with faculty speakers.
As this year’s health equity chief, I’m excited to continue working with the administrative teams to ensure all residents are best supported personally and professionally.
If you’d like to learn more about our program and our health equity initiatives, please don’t hesitate to email me at healthequitychief@gmail.com.
Dr. Marina Perez-Greer
belonging & engagement
Striving for Equity in Emergency Medicine Curriculum
In August of 2023 we implemented this curriculum for all faculty and residents. Using anti-racist methodology, we are learning how our personal biases, institutions, and social structures contribute to inequitable health outcomes. In this longitudinal course our goal is to create a more equitable care environment for our patients.
Our learning Objectives Include:
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Identify and explore biases within our medical practice and their effect on patient care.
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Develop strategies to reduce the impact of our biases on clinical care.
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Identify social determinants of health specific to our local community and available resources to address them.
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Explore solutions to systemic inequities in our country and their influence on patient and societal outcomes.
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Gain the knowledge and confidence to teach others and have conversations about the social determinants of health that affect our patients.
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Incorporate principles of health equity into all of our didactics including morbidity and mortality and grand rounds presentations.
Fellowship and Community Building
Providence is a majority-minority city due to its diverse population with 38% of the population Hispanic/Latino, 16% Black/African-American, 6.4% Asian and 1.4% Native American/Alaskan Native. Providence is also an active refugee resettlement site, serving as a new home to refugees from all over the world.
Every other month, the residents who identify as people of color are given protected time to get together, eat, share stories, and just have fun. Often times we invite faculty too! We also strive to support our residents who are members of the LGBTQ+ community and host bi-monthly dinners for them as well. We have found that providing this space is important not only for wellness but also for the betterment of our residency as a whole.
Every year we have a community service day in which we volunteer with a local organization. Additionally, our residents and faculty have begun to do street outreach and street medicine through House of Hope. This has allowed us to meet our patients where they are and build our relationship with the local community.
We participate in Pathway Programs through The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. By visiting high schools, hosting SIM days, and teaching procedural skills, we hope to inspire tomorrow’s physicians and become active members in our community.
Visiting Student Scholarship
We offer a $2500 scholarship for fourth-year medical students to participate in our ED sub-internship. You will work alongside and learn from residents and faculty in the emergency department, receive mentorship, and learn all about Brown EM and how you could fit in here. For more information follow the link below:
