Health Equity
We are committed to the values and principles expressed by the UNC School of Medicine’s “Statement on Equity and Inclusion.”
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leaders
LeRon Jackson, MD, MPH, is the Director of Inclusive Excellence for Faculty. She leads faculty development, from creating a new leadership program for junior faculty to developing more senior faculty so they can better serve as mentors.
Riley Smith, MD, is the Faculty Liaison to the department’s LGBTQ+ Task Force. He works to ensure that The UNC Family Medicine Centers at Chapel Hill, Durham, Carraway Village, and South Durham are welcoming spaces where our LGBTQ+ communities feel validated and receive the effective, evidence-based care they need.
Venus Standard, MSN, CNM, is our Director of Education and Community Engagement. She employs her considerable experience and entrepreneurship to engage our communities, both inside and outside the department, and leads inclusive excellence education and curricular initiatives for staff, residents, and faculty.
Michael Ropero-Cartier, MD, is our Inclusive Excellence Liaison to the School of Medicine. He will work closely with the Vice Dean for Inclusive Excellence and with relevant offices to improve efforts to create a diverse and inclusive workforce.
UNC Family Medicine Strategic Improvement Plan
The department has recently released its 2021-2026 Strategic Improvement Plan. We view this as a living document as we continue to understand more about the changes required to improve our department. A special thanks goes out to Alexa Mieses Malchuk, MD, MPH, whose leadership and contributions as the inaugural Director of Inclusive Excellence for Faculty led to this report.
The UNC Family Medicine Health Equity Fund
The Health Equity Fund is utilized by Health Equity leaders for efforts such as training faculty and staff in innovative methods of addressing unconscious bias and inherent racism, resources for residency education, pilot funds for research to improve current inequities, inclusive outreach to our community and state, and more. If you feel so moved, you may give easily and securely to these efforts at go.unc.edu/FM-HealthEquityFund, or contact Reid_Johnson@med.unc.edu for more info.