UofL News talked with fourth-year UofL medical student Sierra Shockley about her commitment to addressing health disparities as a Health and Social Justice Scholar (HSJS). Recently selected by the American Lung Association to represent the organization at Respiratory Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., Shockley met with legislators to address disparities in lung health. Her ongoing advocacy work as a HSJS gave her the chance to not only represent the American Lung Association, but also the University of Louisville.

UofL News: Tell us about your involvement with the Health and Social Justice Scholar (HSJS) program.

Shockley: The mission of this program focuses on addressing health care disparities and promoting equity within underserved populations, which aligns perfectly with my deep-rooted commitment to give back to every community I have the privilege of serving.

What truly excites me about this program is its emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, fostering partnerships between students from various professional and doctoral programs, all working together to tackle the most pressing health inequities. Participating in this program has also challenged me to reflect on my role as a future physician, not just in treating patients but in advocating for systemic change.

UofL News: Why is it so important to address health disparities?

Shockley: ��Health disparities are not just medical problems—they are societal and reflect deep-rooted inequalities that need to be confronted if we are to create a more just and equitable health care system. It’s about making sure that healthcare is fair and accessible to all, no matter where people live or who they are.

It’s a stark reality that something as simple as a zip code can determine a person’s health outcomes, with life expectancy sometimes varying by more than ten years within just a 20-30-mile locational difference. This geographic inequality is just one example of how pervasive and alarming health disparities are. For instance, people of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds are more likely to face higher rates of morbidity and mortality for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma, simply because of the systemic barriers that exist in their communities.

UofL Health: How can health equity be advanced through community participatory research?

Shockley: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) involves engaging the communities affected by health disparities in every step of the process, from identifying the problems to developing solutions. CBPR allows for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to tackling disparities, creating interventions that are both culturally relevant and practically applicable. This approach also helps ensure that the research is actionable, impactful, and sustainable while fostering a sense of trust and ownership within the community as they see that their voices and lived experiences are being valued in the research process.

UofL News: Tell me about your experience in Washington D.C. What was your biggest takeaway?

Shockley: My experience standing for the University of Louisville in Washington D.C. was both inspiring and transformative. The biggest takeaway was the profound impact that storytelling and personal narratives can have when advocating for change. While data and research are crucial, it’s often the emotional and human aspects of a story that resonate most with lawmakers.

This experience also highlighted the power of collaboration—whether it’s with fellow advocates, policymakers, or health care professionals. By working together, we were able to amplify our voices and drive home the importance of lung health on a broader scale.

UofL News: How do you plan to use your research/knowledge about health disparities in your medical career/practice?

Shockley: I am fortunate to be working with Dr. Scott Bickel and Dr. Rose Hawkins on a project analyzing the impact of urban greening on asthma exacerbations and related health outcomes. By studying how urban green spaces can mitigate asthma symptoms and improve respiratory health, I am gaining valuable insight into how environmental justice is tied to health equity, and this knowledge will undoubtedly influence how I approach patient care.

As a future surgeon, knowing many underserved communities face significant barriers to accessing surgical care, I hope to focus part of my career on bridging that gap. Whether through global health initiatives, public health programs, or working with underserved populations locally, I aim to be an advocate for systemic change, ensuring that the communities I serve have access to the resources and infrastructure necessary to lead healthier lives.

Professor Oluwaferanmi Okanlami encouraged attendees to ask that question at the 2024 health equity keynote: “Disabusing Disability: Demonstrating that Disability Doesn’t Mean Inability.” Okanlami, whose mission is to close the gap among the diverse members of our society to create a more equitable and promising future for all, highlighted shortcomings in how most of society views disabilities and what must change.

Born in Nigeria before immigrating to the U.S. at a young age, Okanlami attended high school at Deerfield Academy and went on to Stanford University where he also ran track & field, serving as captain his last two seasons and achieving Academic All-American recognition.��Okanlami earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan before matching into orthopedic surgery residency at Yale University. At the beginning of his third��year of residency, he experienced a spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from the chest down. After two surgeries and intense rehabilitation, he recovered some motor function and navigates the world as a proud wheelchair user.

Today, Okanlami is director of student accessibility and accommodation services at the University of Michigan, where he oversees the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, two Testing Accommodation Centers and the Adaptive Sports & Fitness Program. He also is an assistant professor of family medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation and urology at Michigan Medicine and an adjunct assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In addition, he earned a master’s in engineering, science and technology entrepreneurship from the University of Notre Dame and completed his family medicine residency at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana.

As an accomplished athlete, he is passionate about adaptive sports and fitness and champions access to physical fitness and inclusive recreational and competitive sports for all.

At Research!Louisville, Okanlami’s topic provided insight into creating a health system which is accessible to and inclusive of both patients and providers with disabilities, as well as providing provisions necessary for students and employees with disabilities in higher education.

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a person with a disability as an individual who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. Okanlami’s work emphasizes that disabilities do not fairly identify individuals, but more than likely perceptions of disabilities can lead to artificially placing limits on people who have just as much or more to contribute to society.

As a disabled, Black, Nigerian, immigrant, cis-gender heterosexual, male, physician and athlete, Okanlami doesn’t just speak from an acquired knowledge-based perspective. He has experienced firsthand the difficulties of being identified in a culture that does not understand his main message that “disability does not mean inability.”

In his talk, Okanlami illustrated how each individual with a disability has unique needs for accommodations.

“When you have met one person with a disability, you have met one person with a disability,” he said.

Okanlami said that everyone must recognize that we live in an ableist world and we need to provide reasonable and appropriate accommodation for people that identify has having disabilities, whether those disabilities are visible or invisible.

“The health care system is ableist by definition. The medical model of disability teaches us that disability is pathology. It is something that is broken that should be fixed, prevented or cured,” Okanlami said. “The social model of disability does not see the problem living in the individual, it sees the system we are in as being inaccessible. If someone is born without the ability to walk, that shouldn’t be a problem if we have access to the resource they need to be able to navigate.”

But he encouraged everyone to take action.

“What is it we can do to make someone’s tomorrow better than their yesterday?” Okanlami said. “There is something that each of you can do, even if it is a tiny little bite, but the impact that little bite can have could be something that makes a profound impact on someone else’s life.”

Okanlami’s Research!Louisville presentation on Sept. 19 at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center was led by the HSC Office of Health Equity and Engagement and the School of Medicine Office of Community Engagement and Diversity. To watch his entire keynote discussion, visit the .

Betty Coffman contributed to this story.

“Carrying the floss had nothing to do with me wanting to do dentistry,” she said. “It had everything to do with me not liking things in between my teeth.”

But McPheeters knew she wanted to be some type of medical professional.

“I would look up anatomy in encyclopedias, intrigued with the human body and thinking, ‘wow, this is inside of me.’”

She said a mentor from her hometown of Chicago who helped minority students pursue professional careers was instrumental to guiding her to dentistry. After dental school graduation from Indiana University in 2016, she began her career in public health dental practice, but always with an eye towards academia later in her career.

That timetable was unexpectedly accelerated after her second child, Joshua, was born in 2018 with Trisomy 18, also known as Edwards Syndrome – a very rare genetic condition that causes severe developmental delays. The syndrome has no treatment and is usually fatal before birth or within the first year of life, but miraculously Joshua continues to beat the odds.

The demands of a special needs child and the arrival of COVID-19 prompted McPheeters to explore a career shift to academic research. In January 2021, she joined UofL and couldn’t be happier with the transition.

Her son’s special needs also became the inspiration for the professor’s decision to conduct oral health care research for special needs children.

“I had this idea to come up with some things to teach the community,” she said. “We have home nursing, however most clinicians don’t have any training on how to brush teeth or care for the mouth because most of the times they’re focused on things like, ‘Hey, is their heart working OK?’”

She applied for and received a ��to create a curriculum to help providers with oral care training for special needs patients.

“Most times we don’t see special needs patients until they’re in their 20s or 30s, and they need a full-mouth teeth extraction because someone hasn’t brushed with them, so I knew there is a need in that area. There are specialty clinics, but they have a two-year waiting list, so being on the prevention end will be helpful in so many ways.”

With the grant, she collaborated with local company Ohio Valley who provides home health services, and stocked them with special dental supplies for the community. McPheeters will present results of her initial community engagement research in March 2025. With the success of the Gheens grant, she plans to apply for larger grants that will allow her to continue and expand the work.

Coming from a big city, McPheeters has appreciated a slower pace and friendly vibe that is more aligned with family and work-life balance. She said she loves UofL’s emphasis on welcoming diversity.

“I never wake up dreading coming in to work, and when I come here, it brings joy to my day. I could be having a really tough morning, but if I’m able to mentor a student and touch their life in a way where I can encourage them and give them some good advice, it makes my day.”

“Health equity is essential to improving the aging journey for everyone in our community. We must view health holistically, accounting for the social determinants that impact one’s health and working to address each of them with patients so they can flourish,” said Anna Faul, executive director of the . “It felt necessary for health equity to be our theme this year, especially with the growing aging population in the U.S. and the recent challenges to DEI initiatives.”��

The Trager Institute/Optimal Aging Clinic and the Kentucky Association of Gerontology hosted the conference, held in person for the first time since 2019.

As the opening keynote speaker, Kentucky State Director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Charles Booker set the tone and mission of the conference, emphasizing the need to listen to the voices of those directly impacted by services and policies and the importance of strengthening community relationships.

Other keynote sessions included an update on Alzheimer’s and dementia research from Gregory Jicha, professor of neurology at the University of Kentucky; a call to action for women’s caregiver roles and health disparities from Sam Cotton, associate professor at the UofL Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine; a panel on health equity and aging policy with Bob Blancato, executive director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs and Sandy Markwood, CEO of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging; and a panel of six octogenarians and nonagenarians who shared insights on aging optimally.

The nearly 300 attendees also had the opportunity to participate in sessions on animal-assisted therapy, the benefits of adult day care, lifestyle medicine for preventing dementia, ageism, expansion of senior center services, mental health challenges in older adults and other topics.

“The Optimal Aging Conference was an enlightening and rewarding experience. Participants were able to journey through the landscapes of aging and health equity with every keynote and workshop presentation they attended. This conference reinforced my belief that, by embracing inclusivity and understanding, we can make every year of life a rich and fulfilling adventure for everyone,” said Barbara Gordon, director of community engagement for the Trager Institute/Optimal Aging Clinic.�� ��

The annual conference aims to transform preconceptions about aging, hoping to ignite conversations in which aging is viewed as an opportunity rather than a disease. For more details and information about the 2025 event, visit the .

By Samantha Adams, UofL Trager Institute

Honeybees have always been a part of��Robinson’s��life��as she��first learned about beekeeping from family members who’ve cared for beehives through generations, starting with her��grandfather,��and��then her father.��Beehives bring nostalgic scents and sounds to��Robinson, whose earliest memories include following her grandfather around their family hives in Meade County, Ky., harvesting honey for their��“Bee Happy Farms”��honey jars.

“My grandfather had this big garden and orchard with apple trees, so he had the bees to pollinate them,”��Robinson said. “I��just��remember playing around the garden and being close to the bees. They��weren’t��ever interested in me because I��wasn’t��bothering them, so that fear��kind of��got eliminated when I was pretty young.”

After the death of Robinson’s��grandfather, her family kept a hive on his property to support the orchard. She and her father now tend to the inherited bees. “It’s��crazy that��it’s��a family tradition that can carry��on,��beyond someone like that,”��Robinson reflected.

The UofL’s beekeeping internship, too, has brought Robinson closer to her��father who she��now asks for advice when dealing with new obstacles facing��UofL’s��beehives. His insights keep a heritage of beekeeping knowledge from disappearing.

Everything about beekeeping can be done��in��a variety of��ways, from how the hive is��built and how to handle the bees to the protective clothing worn by beekeepers.��

“It’s��like��a dance to specifically move with the bees and see which frame��they’re��mostly on and which one I should touch and which one I��shouldn’t,”��Robinson said.

As a beekeeper, Robinson has developed her own style under the guidance of her father and the UofL Sustainability mentorship.��

“I��read somewhere that bees can remember their��beekeeper’s��face, so I always try��to��talk to them when I get in the hive and just see how��they’re��doing,”��Robinson said.��“There are old folktales about the��‘telling of the��bees,’ so��there’s��a strong connection between beekeepers and their bees.”

A Spring Sting

Beekeeping��isn’t��always comfortable,��even��for a legacy beekeeper.

“I��have gotten stung a few times, but after��the second��time��it’s��no big deal,”��Robinson said.��“And��every time I do��get stung, I never blame the bees.��It’s��not their fault that��they’re��stinging, they��just��think��I’m��like a bear trying to get their honey.”

Bees often face a fear from people, much like snakes or bats, and many believe that their presence always means potential danger. However, bees are defensive, not aggressive, so their sting is a last resort. Like other animals, bees fear humans more than people fear them and prefer keeping to themselves.��

According to Robinson, even with wasps and hive beetles, honeybees defend the hive by surrounding the pests to block them from an area or to overheat them with their wing movements.��

But keeping bees also��comes with its rewards and pleasures. To extract honey from the hive, Robinson first determines how much honey needs to��be left behind��for the bees. The frames are then removed,��and��the bees��are brushed��into an empty super box/hive box. Finally, the beeswax on the frames is uncapped with a blade to release the honey and the frames are placed in a spinner to remove, filter and jar the honey. Beeswax is often collected during the filtering process and can also��be used for various products like lip balm.

“One of my favorite things about beekeeping is just the smell of the��beehives,��it’s��this��really sweet��aroma. I think��it’s��really special��and really cool to introduce new people to that, and the sound of the buzzing from the hives,”��Robinson said.��“It can��definitely��be intimidating, but��I’ve��found it to be a��little��bit more soothing because I know bees are in there and that��they’re��happy.”

As��UofL’s��beekeeping intern, Robinson cares for the beehives year-round. Before the winter, Robinson adds entrance reducers and hay bales around the hive to reduce wind-chill. Throughout the early spring, she visits the hives a couple of times a month to monitor the bees’ behavior, add pollen patties, remove any pests and add more hive frames��which��are��used��by the bees to build honeycombs.

After the bees become more active in the spring, honey can��start to��be harvested��through the summer.��Robinson dresses in a beekeeping suit that covers her legs, arms and face in one sealed garment to protect her from her buzzing friends.��She also burns natural wood shavings to calm the bees down if��she’s��in the hives��for a��longer��amount of time��than��normal.��Robinson uses a brush to gently guide the bees out from any tight spots or crevices to keep��the bees��safe��as she��carefully removes frames and places them on a rack to check the��honeycomb’s��structure and��honey��production.��

“You really count on every bee to help your hive survive,”��Robinson said. “So,��it’s��a very gentle process.”

Last year, one UofL hive produced about 12-pint jars of honey and grew enough to create a second hive.��

Robinson says there’s��no negative aspect in harvesting the bees’ honey when done��properly.

Tending to the hives functions like a symbiotic relationship where the keeper protects the hives from pests, cold, moisture and hunger while harvesting honey for consumption. Seeing the hive thrive and overcome obstacles is as rewarding for Robinson as collecting honey.

“Seeing how much everybody likes the honey is really cool. Not that I made it, but it feels like I helped at least jar it,”��Robinson said.��“It’s��cool to see the different tastes of what this honey is like compared to a different��hive’s��honey.”

Supporting the Hive

Caring for bees��not only��ties Robinson to her community and family, but it also��fulfills a called duty to the environment and sustainability.��

“The responsibility as UofL’s beekeeping intern to me is to show kindness and consideration toward ecology, urban agriculture and every little pollinator that comes my way,” Robinson said. “To help our bees is an honor because I’m also helping our local and community gardens, wildlife and student outreach on sustainable, eco-friendly practices.”

Honeybees are��an important��keystone species as pollinators��and��their success could��be directly tied��to the success of future generations. Keeping beehives helps secure a sustainable future and protects��an important��species from eradication. In trade, beekeepers can harvest honey and beeswax from hives��to use��for various purposes.

“It’s��just important for everybody to know that you can absolutely be a beekeeper wherever as long as you have a yard and some plants nearby,”��Robinson said.��“You just have to know some pretty basic things about bees��and��how to use the equipment.”

Justin Mog, assistant to the provost for sustainability��initiatives,��created the beekeeping internship to help connect student learning with sustainable agriculture and nature stewardship.��Mog works closely with Robinson to manage��the��hives and honey harvesting��at UofL.��The two also participate in programming on-and-off campus to better connect the Louisville community with honeybee conservation.

“Anyone who cares about sustainability needs an intimate understanding of how nature works, and I find��there’s��no better way to do that than to crack open a beehive and observe��what’s��going on,”��Mog said.��“I learn so much from my bees!”

After graduation, Robinson hopes to continue beekeeping��either through��volunteering or keeping her own hives.��“I would love to have some beehives of my own one day as��kind of��a family tradition, help my dad still take care of his bees and hopefully get more involved with the����

KSBA offers resources, workshops and programs to help create new beekeepers and share knowledge.

Interested in becoming��UofL’s��next beekeeping intern? Contact��.

Cardarelli is currently senior associate provost for academic affairs at the University of Kentucky. In her ten years at UK, she has served as associate dean, college diversity officer, department chair and assistant/senior assistant provost for faculty affairs. Her research focuses on community-engaged approaches to enhancing health equity, and she has served as principal investigator on more than $10 million in grants funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Department of Agriculture and other sponsors.

A professor of health, behavior and society, Cardarelli received her Master of Public Health degree at University of North Texas School of Public Health Fort Worth. She went on to earn a doctorate in epidemiology at University of Texas School of Public Health Houston and completed the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine fellowship at Drexel University.

Cardarelli is a member of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health’s Inclusive Excellence through an Anti-Racism Lens expert panel.��Her commitment to advancing women and faculty of color in the academy is reflected in a two-year term as State Chair for the Kentucky chapter of the American Council on ����ֱ�� Women’s Network, where she grew institutional membership and professional development programming.

“Dr. Katie Cardarelli is an accomplished leader, researcher, and dedicated advocate for diversity and inclusion in academia. Her distinguished background and extensive academic experience have led to multifaceted contributions, spanning administrative leadership, impactful research, excellence in teaching, and commitment to equity, making her a formidable force in shaping the landscape of public health,”��said Interim Provost Gerry Bradley.

Cardarelli said the impressive track record of SPHIS faculty, staff, and students in advancing health equity in the Commonwealth and beyond was a key factor in her decision. “My passion for social justice was instilled in me from an early age by my mother, who was a nurse,” she said. “Public health strives to assure that all individuals have an opportunity to live a healthy life. I am excited to build upon the accomplishments of the school and build a vision for the next chapter.”

“UofL Hospital transformed heath care in Louisville, the state and the region,” said Tom Miller, UofL Health CEO. “We honor the compassionate clinicians and civic leaders who founded this hospital to take care of those most in need, and we celebrate all those who followed, including the more than 13,000 who proudly continue the mission today.”

The first patients were admitted in 1823 to the facility then known as Louisville Marine Hospital at the corner of Preston and Chestnut Streets, just a few blocks from the current hospital location. The original mission was to care for ill and injured riverboat crew members abandoned at Louisville’s busy wharf. Patients were often immigrants with a wide variety of backgrounds, ethnicities and countries of origin. Hospital care was extended to include others that could not be treated in their homes, which was common practice at the time.

“Two hundred years in the heart of Louisville’s downtown community represents generations of families from every neighborhood impacted by UofL Hospital,” said Ken Marshall, UofL Health chief operating officer. “I’ve been honored to witness the last 28 years. I’ve seen innovative medicine result in medical miracles. But, even more importantly, I’ve seen the passion our nurses, physicians and allied health workers bring to their patients every day.”

Today, UofL Hospital is the region’s only����for adults, additionally recognized for stroke, burn, cancer care and nursing excellence. The hospital is part of Kentucky’s largest academic health system with eight hospitals, four medical centers, Brown Cancer Center, Eye Institute, nearly 200 physician practice locations and more than 1,000 providers.

“Health care is a human right, and for 200 years, UofL Hospital has been making sure our people have access to the best care possible,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “They’ve been there for folks in Louisville and across the commonwealth, providing world-class trauma care, cutting-edge research and helping us get through a once-in-a-century global pandemic. They’ve provided lifesaving care for heroes like Officer Nick Wilt, who ran toward danger to save lives. Congratulations to all the dedicated doctors, nurses and staff at UofL Health on this incredible milestone.”

“Louisville’s growth into one of the top 30 cities in America is due in large part to the success of our health care system, and that includes the incredible work that happens at UofL Hospital every day,” said Mayor Craig Greenberg. “We are grateful for the lifesaving care, the community partnerships and the overall excellence that has come from UofL Hospital and its team for the past 200 years.”

Among its most significant contributions to medical history, is the nation’s birthplace for trauma care. In 1911, the hospital, then known as Louisville City Hospital, formed an accident service, specifically to care for patients with injuries and fractures. It was the first of its kind in the nation and contributed to the present-day success of emergency departments and trauma centers across the country.

“For decades, UofL Hospital has served as an excellent training ground for aspiring doctors, nurses and allied health professionals enrolled at the University of Louisville,” said UofL President Kim Schatzel. “Here, our residents and students have become well-versed in the kind of compassionate care for which UofL Hospital has been known for generations throughout the region. All of us at UofL join in the salute to UofL Hospital as it marks 200 years of tremendous care and treatment, lifesaving research and an unwavering presence in downtown Louisville.”

“The trauma team at UofL Hospital is saving lives today that would have been unthinkable by our predecessors,” said Dr. Jason Smith, UofL Health chief medical officer. “But we stand on the shoulders of those visionary leaders who first assembled the expertise to treat emergency cases and the made a commitment to provide every patient with the very best in care.”

As the mission continued to grow, so did the need for more beds. By 1914, the new hospital was ready with a state-of-the-art emergency room and more than 400 beds. It also included 44 bassinets, of which Louisville’s own Muhammad Ali was undoubtedly the most famous occupant, born at Louisville General Hospital in 1942. The latest hospital name change came around the same time when the hospital extended its primary patient area beyond the city limits to include all of Jefferson County.

To better reflect and serve its patient population, the hospital staff experienced milestone growth in the 1950s. Drs. Orville Ballard and Grace James joined the medical staff as the first Black physicians, and Flora Ponder started as one of the first Black registered nursing students.

“Elevating the importance of diversity, for both creating an inclusive team and improving patient care, began decades ago,” said Shari Kretzschmer, UofL Health chief nursing officer. “It is one of the many reasons UofL Hospital is now recognized among the top 10% of hospitals across the country to achieve Magnet status for nursing excellence.”

The current hospital, opened in 1983, is undergoing a $182 million expansion to increase the hospital’s operating capacity and facilitate a phased modernization to include all private beds. When complete, UofL Hospital will offer all private rooms, expand the operating room capacity and add a 24-bed observation unit. The first phases of the project are expected to open in early 2025.

UofL Hospital anchors the east side of UofL Health’s downtown Academic Medical Center and a partner in the Louisville Medical & ����ֱ�� District (LOUMED). More than 1.5 million patients rely on UofL Health for medical care, with patients from each of Kentucky’s 120 counties and southern Indiana.

“Social justice is at the foundation of why I pursued medicine,” Mian said. “I believe that health care is a human right and that people of all cultures and backgrounds deserve to be treated with equitable, high-quality care.”

This belief has motivated her throughout medical school and inspired her to apply for a master’s degree in public eye care in order to directly impact the health care conditions of impoverished populations locally and abroad. Mian realized her passion for ophthalmology when she shadowed a doctor who provided free eye surgeries and training. Inspired by how a simple surgery to cure blindness could empower someone to get an education, live independently without a disability and pursue their dreams, Mian was dedicated to becoming an ophthalmologist.

In May, Mian was awarded a $50,000 Rotary Global Grant Scholarship to attend the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The scholarship is designed for students pursuing a career in an area of great humanitarian need and have a long-term commitment to measurable and sustainable change. Students must be sponsored by a local Rotary club in their place of permanent residence or full-time study.

“The rotary club has a long history of service and humanitarian work, and I found that I shared similar goals with the organization,” Mian said. “As a public eye care master’s candidate, I believe I can gain valuable knowledge and experience to be a successful social justice leader, physician, and policy maker.”

As a future ophthalmologist, Mian hopes to create an equitable health care system for diverse populations. She believes her experience at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will widen her cultural competence and knowledge in research and epidemiology and allow the opportunity to work intensely in preventing detrimental ocular disease.

Mian attributes her award to the support of her faculty mentors at the School of Medicine, Bethany Smith and Susan Sawning, as well as her community involvement during her first years of medical school. During her time as a medical student, she has been extensively involved with the American Medical Association creating health policy. She is the co-founder of Grow502, a professional student-led nonprofit organization aiming to address health care disparities in the Louisville community, and also the co-founder of Physicians for Human Rights. These experiences have led her to live a life of service.

Kentucky has a severe shortage of health care providers, with at least some portion of 113 of the state’s 120 counties designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas, including parts of Jefferson County. Recent projections rank Kentucky lowest among the states in meeting the need for primary care physicians by 2025.

To attract and train medical students with an interest in practicing primary care in medically underserved communities, the School of Medicine will enhance existing programs that train students in the underserved rural environments, assist individuals from other careers who want to prepare for medical school, create a new program to train medical students in an urban environment and provide scholarships to support students financially in all of these programs.

“The UofL School of Medicine is honored to have been selected as a recipient of the HRSA grant and is committed to creating pathways that support workforce development for primary care careers in medically underserved regions,” said Jeffrey Bumpous, interim dean for the UofL School of Medicine and vice president of medical affairs. “University leaders recognize the projects and programs supported by this funding are critical to the institutional mission of both the university and the School of Medicine and aim to sustain the efforts beyond the four-year term.”

UofL has a long history of preparing physicians for practice in rural and smaller communities through the , started in 1998 with the goal of increasing the number of physicians practicing in rural areas, and in existing UofL family medicine residencies in Glasgow and Owensboro.

“Students tend to practice what they are taught and where they learn it. Our idea is to enhance our training programs with a focus on improving their educational experience in primary care, particularly in underserved communities,” said Kelli Bullard Dunn, vice dean of community engagement and diversity for the UofL School of Medicine, who leads the project. “At the UofL School of Medicine, we are in a unique position in that not only do we serve rural parts of the state, but we have an urban, underserved core right in our backyard. We would like to take what we have learned from the Trover Campus and replicate part or all of that in the urban environment here in West Louisville and other underserved areas.”

Medical students in the complete their final two years of medical school at Trover Campus, located in Madisonville, Kentucky, hosted by Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville. Of the 170 physicians who have graduated from the Trover Rural Track so far, 75% practice primary care and 43% practice in rural communities.

“The Trover Campus has been successful because we are able to get more rural students into medical school and then into rural practice by supporting them all the way through the process, starting with high school,” said William J. Crump, associate dean of the UofL School of Medicine Trover Campus. “This grant holds the promise of enlarging our campus, but most importantly building an urban underserved counterpart.”

Three programs to achieve the grant goals

The grant project focuses on three programs aimed at increasing the number of physicians who choose primary care specialties of family medicine, general internal medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine-pediatrics and encouraging them to practice in underserved communities.

First, UofL will increase participation opportunities for students in the Trover Rural Track and expand primary care clinical training for students in conjunction with the UofL family medicine residency programs at Glasgow and Owensboro.

Second, a new urban training program will be created, modeled on the Trover program, that provides medical students opportunities to train in medical facilities in West Louisville and other communities that provide care for underserved populations. This project will involve partnerships with community health systems such as UofL Health, Family Health Centers and others.

In addition, the project calls for enhancement of the UofL , which prepares individuals who have a bachelor’s degree in another field to enter medical school. Of the 114 students who have completed the Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program since it began in 2009, 98% have been accepted into a medical school and 36% of those who have completed residency programs now practice in primary care fields.

The new funding will allow this program to recruit more students from medically underserved communities who are interested in practicing in those areas after completing residency training and to improve access to medical school for them with scholarships and additional academic support.

“This new grant allows us to help even more people fulfill their dream of becoming a physician. A lot of the postbaccalaureate premedical students have come from underserved populations or underserved areas, including rural areas. Having more folks from rural areas and underserved communities going into medicine is a great thing for Kentucky,” said V. Faye Jones, UofL Health Sciences Center associate vice president for health affairs and diversity initiatives and co-lead for the grant project.

Students in each of the three programs will receive academic and financial support with coaching and scholarships to help ensure their success in applying to and completing medical school.

“Everyone deserves the best quality health care we can provide, and that means having the best quality of talent in the medical school pipeline,” said Rep. Morgan McGarvey, who supported the grant proposal. “I’m excited for UofL and for the future of Kentucky health care with this HRSA Medical Student ����ֱ�� Program grant to address the primary care provider shortage. We need to be doing everything we can to ensure we are supporting the primary care providers of tomorrow, and I’m proud UofL is leading the way.”

See photos on from the Oct. 9 press conference announcing the new funding.��

“Research!Louisville is a great opportunity to explore the important role UofL research plays in our day-to-day lives,” said Kevin Gardner, executive vice president for research and innovation. “That work positively impacts our world, from creating meaningful educational experiences and career pathways for students to developing innovative new technologies and companies.”

The event includes a presentation by author and medical ethicist Harriet Washington on Thursday, Oct. 5 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at Kornhauser Auditorium on the Health Sciences Center campus presented by UofL’s Office of Institutional Equity and the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Washington’s latest work is the award-winning “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Experimentation from Colonial Times to the Present.”��

UofL News caught up with V. Faye Jones, a pediatrician and associate vice president for health affairs/diversity initiatives at the UofL Health Sciences Center,��and Kiana Fields, coordinator, UofL Office of Diversity and Inclusion, to talk about the importance of Washington’s research.

UofL News: What kind of perspective does Harriet Washington bring to the discussion about racial health disparities?

Jones:��She brings great insight into medical ethics and racism, how they intersect with each other. Our work focuses on the harms inflicted on historically minoritized populations by bringing attention to that history now. For many people, it’s the first time they are hearing that history. She tells us about things we may have not delved as deep in as we should have and holds all of us accountable for it.

Fields:��Washington’s been doing this work for decades. She saw a need and a gap within the literature to address the longitudinal atrocities that have taken place. In addition to medical apartheid, she has talked about the erosion of informed consent and how it’s systemic racism.
She incorporates different identities and different systems of oppression and explores the health impacts and the ethical dilemmas that exist as well.

UofL News: What are some of the specific ways Washington has shined a light on little-known history of medical inequity?

Fields:��She started going deeper into her research for medical apartheid when she was working in a hospital and saw medical files of kidney failure patients that were different for Blacks and whites. While the files were comparatively similar, in the Black patient’s file, it said imminent demise was expected. That’s when she knew some of her suspicions were true and there was more that needed to be uncovered. One other medical story is about J. Marion Sims, who was known as the father of gynecology. This physician and researcher conducted painful experiments without anesthesia using enslaved women, which ultimately led to important gynecological advances. There is a lack of acknowledgement of the harms that were done in that way.

Jones:��First, we need to acknowledge this, showing that these disparities exist and then understanding why they exist, and then developing and implementing strategies to change it. Just like Kiana said about the kidney patients, there are so many things where if you’re black then you get this type of treatment, and if you’re not black you get this. So how is that right? It’s not. You focus on these things so that we can correct and hopefully improve patient care and address health disparities to get us more to that standard of health equity.

UofL News: According to CDC data, Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, with most of the maternal deaths being preventable. Multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as variation in quality health care, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism and implicit bias.��How does Washington’s examination of the history of medical inequities help inform the present?

Fields:��With Black maternal and infant mortality disparities, we often think that if you were in a higher socioeconomic status that you would be exempt. But a great example of that is Serena Williams. She had preeclampsia for her first pregnancy and the physicians didn’t take her concerns seriously, and so she found herself in a very precarious situation where both her life and her child’s life were in danger.

Jones:��When you look at what happened with Serena Williams and the pulmonary embolism, I think it’s important to note that if that can happen to a person of that stature, that wealth and who is that well known, then what is happening to people who don’t have voices? Are they invisible? With Black maternal mortality, it’s amazing how it is present in every community, including in Jefferson County. There is such a disparity there and we must be able to say yes, it exists, and to look into the root causes of it and do something about it, not just talk about it.

UofL News: For those who come to hear Harriet Washington’s presentation on October 5, what questions and reflections do you hope it prompts for people?

Jones:��One thing I would hope it would prompt is to ask what does it look like in the health care system and where we are right now where we live and what kind of things can we do?��Each one of us can make a difference here. We are not waiting for somebody else to take that banner and run with it, but what can we do as individuals to make that difference? Because each of us have the power to make a change.

Fields:��I believe Harriet Washington, in her work, is elevating that we all have a shared responsibility to start to disrupt these systems of oppression and acknowledge and reimagine our health care system to benefit the most vulnerable populations in our society. How do we continue to strive to uncover the hidden voices? How do we continue to not only take action, but also start reconciling the atrocities and healing some of the harm that has been done so that we can create interventions that are long lasting?

for the event.