Prior to his psychiatry residency, PGY2 Dr. Asif Khan founded a not-for-profit organization that actively engages with refugee community members as they navigate the complexities of living in a new country. His organization, Refugee Community Partnership (RCP), has been awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Community Solutions for Health Equity grant for their Language Navigators program. Although this work is external to the Dept of Psychiatry, it is very relevant to the work we strive to do in identifying and reducing barriers to healthcare. As a Mental Health Equity Track Resident, Asif has continued his efforts around improving language access for patients served in our UNC psychiatry outpatient clinics and inpatient units.
Community Solutions for Health Equity is focused on “elevating the voices of communities of color and other communities left out of discussions when local health care systems in the United States are creating policy”. Dr. Khan is the founder, former Executive Director, and a board member of RCP, the non-profit that aims to create a comprehensive and collaborative support ecosystem for our local refugee community members across North Carolina. Language Navigators program aims to empower refugee members with a community interpreter who provides social and language support when they are accessing mainstream healthcare, social, and legal services. This support starts from the parking lot to receptionist check-in to appointment room, and then throughout the encounter as they advocate for the refugee members and facilitate communication during and after the encounter. This program also works collaboratively with the service providers to help them assess and increase their capacity for language access. Since its launch in 2020, this program has also won grants and funding from North Carolina Health Care Foundation, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Kate B. Reynolds Foundation, and Durham ARPA among others totaling more than $1 million in financial support to date. Dr. Khan is also a member of our department’s inaugural psychiatry residency training track on Mental Health Equity where he is focusing on working with our outpatient leadership team to improve language interpreters and accessibility assistance in our outpatient clinics.