How to Create Safe(r) Spaces For Engaged Learning: Effective Strategies to Advance Equity in Medicine (ADIEM and Social EM and Population Health Interest Group Sponsored)

Anthony was born in the rural community of Oley Valley, PA. His father was a crane operator, and his mother was a lunch lady. He worked as a janitor and landscaper during middle and high school, before going to college at Fairleigh Dickinson University where he got both a BS and subsequently an MBA. While completing his undergraduate education Anthony also worked closely with several disinvested communities including adults with autism, youth in the foster care system, and youth in the criminal legal system. Anthony then completed his medical education at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan where he worked closely with the immigrant community in East Harlem. Anthony completed his residency training at the Boston Combined Residency Program at Boston Childrens’ Hospital and Boston Medical Center in the Leadership in Equity and Advocacy Track. Now Anthony is the inaugural Ravin Davidoff Health Equity Fellow at Boston Medical Center. In this fellowship he studies health equity, implementation sciences, and health system management. He applies those skills to intervention-based projects by working with BMC’s Health Equity Accelerator, a health system wide collaboration to improve the healthcare of Boston Medical Center’s patients, specifically focused on health inequities. Anthony also delivers primary care to the children of Boston through his role as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center. Finally, Anthony routinely teaches health equity content to residents and medical students through his roles as the Leadership in Equity and Advocacy Course Director and as a Health Equity Rounds Faculty Mentor. In those roles, Anthony created an operationalized 18-month long health equity curriculum consisting of monthly in person discussion-based sessions and professional development modules with accompanying asynchronous content. He also mentors residents to create specific case-based health equity conferences that are presented to the pediatric department in a grand rounds format. Finally, he has led teaching sessions on racism across multiple departments in his institution and to all levels of learners, medical students, residents, and faculty. His areas of interest include quality improvement and implementation science, racial socialization, the care of criminal legal system involved youth and youth in the foster care system, the deconstruction of the school to prison pipeline, economic mobility, population health management, and disability justice.

Caitlin M. Farrell is an Emergency Physician at Boston Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine Caitlin graduated from Trinity College with a degree in Biology and Writing. After college, she worked as a preschool teacher at a Head Start in Las Vegas, Nevada, after which she turned her attention to public health and obtained a Masters in Public Health from Boston University with a specialization in Health Policy and Advocacy. She completed her Emergency Medicine training at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts where she also served as Chief Resident. She then completed her Health Equity Fellowship at Boston Medical Center where she focused on improving healthcare for incarcerated populations. She has served in several leadership roles within organized medicine, including the American Medical Association and the Massachusetts Medical Society. Her academic work is focused on improving the care of incarcerated patients through research and advocacy. Her work has been published in medical journals such as the American Journal of Public Health as well as the New York Times. Additionally, she works closely with the Medical Justice Alliance on medical parole and authors affidavits for patients seeking medical parole. She also visits jails across Massachusetts to perform dementia screenings for patients seeking medical parole. Caitlin aims to advance research, advocacy, and improve health inequities for the marginalized incarcerated population. She lives in Boston with her husband.

Alejandro Aviña-Cadena MD, MPH (Dr. Aviña, He/Him) is a first-generation Mexican-American physician, born and raised in Los Angeles. He is a current second year Emergency Medicine resident at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and a proud product of the public school system and community college. After he transferred to a 4 year university, he spent the next few years at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) where he received his Bachelors of Science, completed a Post-Bacc program, completed a Masters in Public Health and completed his medical degree as a leader in UCI’s Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC). Dr. Aviña is a first-generation Mexican-American physician and his lived experiences served as a motivation for his work in health equity. In addition to serving as the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) chapter president as a medical student, PRIME-LC president and conducting research on food insecurity and Dr. Aviña spearheaded UCI School of Medicine’s first 4-year longitudinal Social Determinants of Health curriculum where he worked with a number of key stakeholders to incorporate his curriculum into every major educational experience at UCI’s School of Medicine. Now in residency, Dr. Aviña is a co-president for BMC’s Emergency Medicine Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) program in addition to conducting research/quality improvement projects on incorporating a patient’s social context to their plan of care in the ED and has worked on a number of diversity/health equity projects that have promoted program recruitment and resident well-being. Now almost 2 years living in Boston, Dr. Aviña and his wife recently expanded their family and are excited for where the next few years will take them.

Monica Germain BSN, RN, CCRN is a registered nurse who is currently serving in the two year Ravin Davidoff Health Equity fellowship to advance Boston Medical Center’s health equity priorities. Monica holds an Associate Degree in Science from Bunker Hill Community College, a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Southern New Hampshire University, and is currently enrolled at Boston University School of Public Health to obtain a Master’s in Public Health. After graduation from Bunker Hill Community College, Monica began working in Boston as a community health nurse to deliver patient-centered care to vulnerable populations. Her nursing background includes community health, correctional nursing, and critical care. Over the last two years, Monica has garnered the respect of her peers and colleagues for her progressive nursing leadership roles. Monica’s passion is creating an inclusive environment in nursing units and finding ways to mentor and create advancement opportunities for BIPOC nurses. She was the founder & chair of the Critical Care Diversity & Inclusion council and served as a ‘Recruitment, Retention, and Recognition’ representative during the 2021 Magnet survey for Boston Medical Center. Monica has been awarded the 2021 ‘Excellence in Nursing Practice” by the New England Black Nurses Association.

Carly Polcyn is a second year resident in Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center. She was born and raised in a small town in southeast Ohio. Dr. Polcyn attended the Ohio State University where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology. During this time, Dr. Polcyn developed a passion for service, as she spent her summers in Guatemala and Panama working in free medical clinics. She then completed medical school at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences. Dr. Polcyn served as president of the Women in Medicine Standing Committee of the American Medical Association Medical Student Section, wrote health policy resolutions, and published a variety of editorials in collaboration with medical students across the country. She then followed her passion for health equity and moved to Boston to start residency at Boston Medical Center.

Denisse Rojas Marquez, envisions a health care system where no individual is excluded. Growing up as an undocumented immigrant, she and her family had limited health care options and as a result, they would delay treatment for illnesses and use free or subsidized health care. Through these difficult experiences, Denisse was inspired to become a doctor in underserved communities that advocates for all patients and is a leader in shaping health care policies. Denisse co-founded a national organization called Pre-Health Dreamers (PHD) to provide advising, resources and advocacy for other undocumented youth like herself. In just a few years, PHD has reached over 1,000 members in 48 states.

Through Denisse’s leadership, the organization co-sponsored legislation to allow California licensing boards to award professional licenses to individuals regardless of immigration status, given all other requirements are met, and engage in institutional advocacy in partnership with other academic groups. She co-authored an article in Academic Medicine that provides guidance on considering DACA recipients for residency positions. As a result of PHD’s advocacy, more health professional programs will consider undocumented students for admission. Denisse completed her MD at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and her Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is currently an emergency medicine resident at Boston Medical Center. Denisse has devoted herself to a life of service through direct care, research, and policy to ensure that quality health care is accessible to all underserved communities and higher education is attainable for underrepresented minority students.