The Health Equity Skills Simulation Workshop (Simulation Academy and Education Committee-Sponsored)

Racism, in its internalized, interpersonal, and structural forms, disproportionately impacts the health of communities of color and the marginalized. This workshop is a small group session focused on training participants in cultural competencies related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). Through a low-fidelity simulation that includes standardized patients and active feedback, participants will learn and be able to practice advanced health equity communication skills to address microaggressions and racist behaviors in emergency medicine.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
  • Use effective ways of addressing micro- and macro-aggressions, bias and racism in the clinical setting
  • Apply mitigation and communication strategies to address challenging experiences rooted in bias and racism
  • Develop upstander responses using literature-based models to challenge biases and racism in clinical scenarios

Presenters: 

  • William Mundo, MD
  • Adetoriola Odetunde, MD, MPH
  • Tai Donovan, MBA, NREMT
  • William Mundo, MD
  • Al'ai Alvarez, MD (he/him/his)
  • Italo M. Brown, MD, MPH, FAAEM
  • Jacqueline A. Ward-Gaines, MD
  • Cortlyn Brown, MD, MCSO, FAAEM
  • Kristyn J. Smith, DO, FAAEM
Authors

  • William Mundo, MD

    Denver Health Medical Center

    Dr. William Mundo is an emergency medicine resident physician at Denver Health Medical Center in Denver, Colorado. He completed his medical degree at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and was awarded a full-tuition scholarship. In addition, Dr. Mundo holds a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Global Health Systems Management and Policy from the Colorado School of Public Health, along with bachelor’s degrees in Public Health and Ethnic Studies from CU Denver. His expertise centers on integrating health equity concepts with public health and medicine to identify and implement solutions that address and reduce health inequities at both the individual and systemic levels. Dr. Mundo has led grant-funded initiatives in these areas, serving as principal investigator and co-investigator, and his research has been published in several esteemed journals. Recently, his efforts have focused on developing simulation sessions to enhance communication skills with medical interpreters and to promote accountable behavior among healthcare professionals. He has received numerous honors and accolades throughout his career, including various scholarships, the CU Presidents Diversity Award, the Cesar Chavez Peace and Justice Award, and the Rosa Parks Diversity Award. Dr. Mundo is also the author of “From Margins to Medicine,” in which he shares his journey to medicine as the son of Mexican immigrants and a first-generation Latino. Above all, he is a devoted father of two young girls and a loving husband.

  • Adetoriola Odetunde, MD, MPH

    University of Chicago

    Dr. Odetunde is a second-year resident at the University of Chicago emergency medicine program. She received her MPH from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center and her medical degree from St. Georges University SOM. Her professional interests include social EM, administration, and medical education. She currently serves as the RSA representative for the AAEM JEDI section.

  • Tai Donovan, MBA, NREMT

    Windsor University School of Medicine

    Tai Donovan is a fourth-year medical student at Windsor University School of Medicine and a nationally certified EMT with five years of service in the NYC 911 system. A graduate of Howard University, she is passionate about advancing equity in emergency medicine and community health. She co-founded The Nest, a grassroots initiative delivering health education and essential resources to unhoused and underserved communities in New York City. Tai also serves on the Board for MedCEEP and Project Impact 180—two Chicago-based nonprofits that support underrepresented youth through mentorship, emergency preparedness, and healthcare career exploration. She holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Management and Administration.
  • alai.alvarez - Al'ai Alvarez

    Al'ai Alvarez, MD

    SAEM Nominating Committee Member

    Stanford Emergency Medicine

    My long-term interest is to study the intersection of Medical Education, Process Improvement (Quality and Clinical Operations), Representation (Diversity), and Well-being (Inclusion/Belonging) through human-centered design. My academic and professional experience has provided me with an excellent background in understanding the drivers for professional fulfillment in medicine and its interplay on efficiencies of care, the culture of wellness, and personal resilience, as highlighted by Stanford WellMD’s Professional Fulfillment Model. Specifically, my work investigates the role of self-compassion and resilience in promoting belongingness and overcoming isolation and loneliness in medicine exacerbated by experiences of medical harm, vicarious trauma, implicit bias, microaggressions, and imposter phenomenon.

    I graduated from the faculty fellowship at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, where I explored the role of mindfulness in resuscitations. Furthermore, I co-directed and organized the inaugural High-Performance Resuscitation Teams Summit in May 2022 in Chicago, IL, in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and the Mission Critical Teams Institute, to understand commonalities among high-performing teams in healthcare, aerospace, sports, military, special operations, and fire rescue.

    As an attending EM physician, I served as the Assistant Medical Director on Quality Education and Clinical Operations at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Emergency Department (ED), the busiest ED in Northern California. This role offered me direct insight into drivers of burnout through inefficiencies in clinical practice and the need for a culture of wellness, especially in quality improvement and peer review. As an Associate Residency Program Director at the Stanford Emergency Medicine Residency Program (2015-2021), I led initiatives to enhance personal resilience while advocating for improving the clinical and learning environment to improve well-being and professional fulfillment.

    Currently, I am the Director of Well-Being and co-chair of the Human Potential Team at Stanford Emergency Medicine. I also serve as the Stanford EM Physician Wellness Fellowship Director. As the chair of the Stanford WellMD Physician Wellness Forum, I lead monthly discussions to understand how better to optimize clinical practice environments to improve well-being and professional work-life balance.

    As Chair of the SAEM Wellness Committee (2022- ), we are spearheading the “October is #StopTheStigmaEM month,” which has been the most extensive campaign for SAEM, mobilizing national organizations in EM and leveraging social media to increase awareness and support efforts to humanize physicians, prioritize mental health, and normalize receiving mental health support.

    Given my disparate physician leadership and clinical experience, I offer a unique and valuable perspective in serving on the Nominations Committee. I aim to continue fostering collaboration, empowerment, and self-compassion in academic emergency medicine's learning and work environment. This includes finding ways to recognize the work of academic EM physicians and EM bound trainees.

  • Italo M. Brown, MD, MPH, FAAEM

    Stanford School of Medicine

    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.

  • Jacqueline A. Ward-Gaines, MD

    University of Colorado, Denver

    Dr. Jacqueline Ward-Gaines is director of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Denver Health Emergency Medicine Residency. She uses her DEI training as a faculty physician in the CU Department of Emergency Medicine to serve as the educational lead for DEI efforts. She is a graduate of Cambridge Heath Alliance Center for Health Equity, Education, and Advocacy 2021 Health Equity Scholars Program. She has served as the chair of the education committee of the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine as well as a member at large.
  • Dr cortlyn brown

    Cortlyn Brown, MD, MCSO, FAAEM

    Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine

    Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

    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, FAAEM

    Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

    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.

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