Page 24 - Layout 1

PREVENTATIVE
MEDICINE
continued from page 23

tamount to further adoption and integrations at an institutional Acknowledgements:
level, and the Department’s work has shown promise in current eval- -Nehman Andry, MD:
uation. The SDoH Clerkship experience has significantly increased For your incredible leadership, guidance and support to all of the
students’ SDoH knowledge, practical intervention competency and teams, players and patients who have helped build these student expe-
clinical practice intentions per 1st-year data collections, while the riences and patient support mechanisms. You are an inspiration to all
Team Care session was met with significant engagement and positive who seek to be champions for innovation in medical education.
feedback from both students and other clerkship directors. What
these results tell us is that with adequate time allowed at an organi- -Carolina Gonzalez-Schlenker, MD:
zational level and a committed and passionate interprofessional team For your wisdom in care ethics, pride in the work of promotores and
available for initiative development, strides can be made in student immense contribution to the moral frameworks of these programs that
SDoH training to meet our community’s needs in reducing health shaped the entire tone of what needed to be understood in these expe-
disparities in future practice. riences. You are an inspiration to all who value the difficult and neces-
These are exciting times for the health equity movement in the med- sary conversations required to transform medical society in the coming
ical education space, providing opportunities for students, faculty, in- decades.
terprofessional team members, and even patients to collaborate towards
a brighter and healthier future for the city of San Antonio. Prevention - Yajaira Johnson-Esparza, PhD:
of disease begins with an understanding of the real factors contributing For your empathic expertise and collaborative contributions from
to the development of those diseases, which today are unequivocally clinical psychology that equipped these students to communicate in
distributed largely on the basis of inequity in socially-derived drivers the direst of circumstances with their patients, and do so from a trust-
of illness, we find. We hope that this story will inspire others in acade- building framework. You are an inspiration to all who seek to highlight
mia to strive for the same at their institutions, but will also inspire all the criticality of behavioral health in prevention, treatment and main-
healthcare professionals in this network to see what the future of physi- tenance of wellness.
cians is leaning into over the coming decade. As these endeavors con-
tinue to expand and improve their impacts on students at the Long -Robert Ferrer, MD, MPH:
School of Medicine, we welcome feedback, partnership and most of For your foundational efforts, historical contextualization and vast
all, inspiration in our common efforts. expertise in health inequities across our city of San Antonio and con-

24 SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • June 2022