“On campus and throughout Austin, leaders in all sectors need to develop their individual leadership strengths guided by courage, risk-taking and the strategic skills required to transform systems to achieve health justice,” says Jewel Mullen, M.D., MPH, Dell Med’s affiliate dean for well being fairness, who leads this system. “We’ve designed this program to allow leaders a few hours a month to pause from the daily stream of activity and learn those skills.”

The program targets midcareer professionals from numerous sectors. Content contains two immersive experiences — one in Montgomery, Alabama, on the Equal Justice Institute, the Freedom Riders Museum and the Equal Justice Institute well being clinic. A second journey to spotlight well being points on the border is deliberate for April in El Paso.

In addition to immersive experiences, there may be additionally a practicum, directed readings, one-on-one teaching and discussions with nationwide leaders, all of which supply members a chance to discover methods for problem-solving that affect organizational transformation. Pauline Strong, the workplace’s well being humanities lead, assists with journaling workouts to advertise essential thought and self-awareness. 

“Transformative change in health care demands the courage to embrace risk and stand up for compassionate care, which means questioning the existing culture that puts reimbursement and process over people,” says Sarita Clark-Leach, vice chairman of high quality, analytics and efficiency at Central Health, the safety-net care supplier for Travis County. There, she’s spearheading a sequence of all-staff trainings that instill the ideas of compassionate, trauma-informed care all through the group, aiming to then measure the impression on the group’s tradition and insurance policies and the affected persons they serve — in addition to the individuals who serve them. “This program has confirmed for me that it’s not just about the letters after your name; it’s about rising to the occasion and doing the work that’s necessary to advance health equity.”

Building ‘Strong, Durable Roots’

Kristin Escamilla, M.D., is a working towards native psychiatrist and an assistant professor in Dell Med’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. The Courageous Leadership curriculum is supporting her in her work to ascertain an enticing curriculum for instructing medical college students and psychiatry residents about public psychological well being by way of a novel medical expertise.

“It’s my responsibility to become a leader who people need, a trailblazer who stays in this space so that my students, residents and staff have access to someone whom they feel understands them and advocates for them,” says Escamilla. “I see myself as having strong, durable roots that are going to stay despite the freezes, the floods and the droughts. At times, my leaves might appear to be a little wilted, but I remain strong and steady thanks to what this program has taught me.”

Courageous Leadership for Health Improvement is supported by a present from Mike and Laurel D’Antoni. To learn more, contact Sharon Ricks from Dell Med’s Office of Health Equity »

Other 2023 cohort students embrace: Dave Clarke, a board-certified pediatric epileptologist and chief of the Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Program inside UT Health Austin’s Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children’s Medical Center; Elizabeth Colvin, a civil rights lawyer and the manager director of RAISE Texas, a statewide coalition that’s working to make sure that each Texan has the facility to construct sustainable wealth and prosperity; and Tiffany Ricks, affiliate dean of nursing at Austin Community College.