Shhh! Don't Say DEI" An Open Dialogue Addressing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Academic Emergency Medicine (ADIEM Sponsored)

Dr. Valerie A. Pierre, MD, FACEP, FAAEM is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Pierre graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana, where she developed an interest in public health and healthcare disparities in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She attended Howard University College of Medicine and trained in Emergency Medicine residency at the Brookdale Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Pierre subsequently completed an ultrasound fellowship at New York University.
In addition to her clinical and teaching roles, Dr. Pierre is the Assistant Medical Director at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She also serves as a faculty mentor for the departmental Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee. Outside of her work within her local academic community, she lectures and leads hands-on training sessions on point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) internationally.
In addition to local leadership, Dr. Pierre is the Chair for the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion section of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and Membership Chair of the Academy for Diversity & Inclusion of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. She also serves on the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging workgroup of the Education Committee for the Society for Clinical Ultrasound Fellowships and the POCUS subcommittee of the Global Emergency Medicine Academy of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. During her medical training, she previously held several national leadership positions, including her service on the Board of Directors for the Student National Medical Association as a National Co-Chair for the Health Policy and Legislative Affairs Committee and as a National Vice Chair for the Health Policy Committee for the Emergency Medicine Residents Association.
Her clinical and research interests lie in her long-standing passion for health equity and clinical ultrasound. More specifically, she is interested in reducing health disparities in at-risk populations and improving access to care for marginalized populations.

Italo M. Brown, MD MPH (Morehouse College '06, Boston University '08, Meharry Medical College '15) is a Board-certified Emergency Physician, an Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine, and Health Equity & Social Justice Curriculum Thread Lead at Stanford University School of Medicine. Throughout his career, Italo has been at the frontlines of social medicine and health equity. Italo is the current Chief Impact Officer of T.R.A.P. Medicine, a barbershop-based wellness initiative that leverages the cultural capital of barbershops to address the physical and emotional health of Black men and boys. He is a former board member of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, an organization that spearheads statewide advocacy efforts in support of the Affordable Care Act and Medicare/Medicaid Reform. Italo trained at Jacobi Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center, two Bronx Hospitals ranked among the top 20 busiest ERs in the country. In 2017, the National Minority Quality Forum named Italo among the 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health. An avid writer, Italo served with the ABC News Medical Unit, and has contributed health equity & wellness commentary to The New York Times, NPR, USA Today, GQ, Men's Fitness, and Bloomberg. Recently, Italo was selected to be among clinician leaders in access to care for the recurring Health Equity Leaders Roundtable, a new initiative by the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Dr Emmanuel Ohuabunwa is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and a Health Equity Scholar at UT Southwestern, Dallas. He serves as the Treasurer and co-chair of the Educational Trust Committee for the Association of Nigerian Physicians in America, working to increase outreach and mentorship opportunities for students of Nigerian descent interested in medicine. He completed residency at Yale EM during which he served on the board of various organizations including the African Research Academies for Women (ARA-W). In 2016, Dr Ohuabunwa and the rest of the executive board of ARA-W received the AmeriCorps Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama for their work in increasing female participation in research in Africa. In 2021, Dr Ohuabunwa was named on the 40 under 40 list by the New England Tri-state Urban Professionals Network. He was also awarded a certificate of congressional recognition by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for community service and achieved the highest score in the entire residency on the national in-training exam while publishing papers in esteemed journals. Dr Ohuabunwa’s area of interest is health equity and advocacy. His most recent piece in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, titled “Say our Names. We are doctors too” aims to change the culture around names by tackling name-based microaggressions and the resultant differential use of formality in medicine. He plans to continue to work on such issues related to health equity at UT Southwestern.

Dr Ohuabunwa attended Johns Hopkins University on a full scholarship and graduated with a 3.98 GPA in Neuroscience—a feat that made waves around the world and resulted in awards from various organizations including the “Scholar of the year Award” by the African Diaspora Organization; the “Top Nigerian-American Youth of the Year” by the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans; and a congratulatory message from the president of Nigeria, His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan. Dr Ohuabunwa went on to attend Yale University where he completed a combined MD/MBA, on a full scholarship. In his spare time, Dr Ohuabunwa enjoys mentoring students, reading widely, cooking, and playing basketball. A native Houstonian, he is reluctantly adjusting to rooting for the Dallas sports teams.

Dr. Cortlyn Brown is an Assistant Professor of emergency medicine at Atrium Health Carolinas in Charlotte, NC.

Dr. Brown graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and matriculated to the Yale School of Medicine where she received the Parker Prize given to the graduating student who has shown the best qualifications for a successful physician and the Grannum Prize given to an African American graduating student who has shown excellent academic achievement. She completed the NIH Howard Hughes Medical Research fellowship and received a certificate in Leadership in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) from Cornell University. She then completed her residency at the University of California San Francisco where she served as Chief Resident and was awarded the Chancellor Award for Dr. Martin Luther King, JR., one of the highest institutional honors that is given to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to the ideals of DEI. She recently completed a Masters in Clinical Operations from Harvard University School of Medicine.

Dr. Brown joined Carolinas Medical Center Atrium Health faculty in 2020 as the department’s Vice Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In addition to this role, she serves as clerkship director for the Health Disparities in Emergency Medicine rotation and Co-Leader of the Women in Emergency Medicine group.

In addition to local leadership, Dr. Brown holds several national leadership roles including Chair for the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion National Section as well as Section Editor for the WestJEM. Throughout her medical education, she also held several national leadership positions including, but not limited to, Student National Medical Association National Vice President and Strategic Planning Council Member and National Chair of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Resident and Student Association Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Her research related to DEI has been published in such journals as JAMA Internal Medicine, Annals of Emergency Medicine, and Academic Emergency Medicine.

Kristyn J. Smith, DO is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). Additionally, she is the Sub-internship Director for the Emergency Medicine 4th year medical student rotation. Dr. Smith has introduced iniatitives aimed at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the emergency department through Lift Every Voice – an anonymous platform used to catalyze anti-racism change in hospital settings. She holds several local and national leadership positions in emergency medicine. Previously, she was a National Alumni Board Member for the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) and a Leadership Fellow in the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). Currently, she is Chair-Elect for the American Academy of Emergency Medicine's (AAEM) Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Section (JEDI). Dr. Smith was recently awarded the Marcus Martin Award/Scholarship, which acknowledges signifcant achievement in DEI, through the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine (CORD).

Dr. Smith completed her residency at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA. During residency, Dr. Smith founded the health equity in emergency medicine journal club. This earned her the 2021 Dr. William & Margaret E. Menin Humanistic Sensitivity Award and the Emergency Medicine Residency Program Humanitarian Award. Throughout her medical school career, Kristyn was heavily involved in the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) serving as chapter president at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine and co-chair of the National Osteopathic Schools Committee. Under her leadership, the chapter won the 2015 Rowan University Excellence in Diversity Award and National SNMA Chapter of the Year.