Opening Plenary: Equity Matters: Integrating and Enhancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Graduate Medical Education
We are thrilled to announce Pilar Ortega, MD MGM, will present the Opening Plenary. Dr. Ortega, a nationally and internationally recognized expert in linguistically and culturally appropriate health care, recently joined the ACGME as Vice President, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. An emergency medicine-trained physician, she has more than 15 years' experience creating and evaluating innovative programs throughout the medical education continuum. Dr. Ortega will discuss DEI trends across the GME landscape, ACGME priorities related to creation of inclusive clinical learning environments, and share strategies for integrating and enhancing DEI efforts into a fellowship/GME program.
Closing Plenary: Striving to Improve Addiction, Mental Health, and City Systems Through Inclusive Leadership
We are pleased to welcome Kevin M. Simon, MD, as our closing plenary speaker. Dr. Simon serves as the city of Boston’s first Chief Behavioral Health Officer and is also an attending psychiatrist at Boston Children's Hospital, an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Health Policy at Harvard University, and the Medical Director of Wayside Youth & Family Support Network. A former REACH Scholar and graduate of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Addiction Medicine Fellowship, Dr. Simon will provide an overview of the intersection of mental health and substance use and the importance of building inclusive systems of care to impact healthcare equity. He will discuss the significance of prevention, specifically among adolescents, and the importance of its inclusion in a fellowship’s curriculum. Additionally, Dr. Simon will share thoughts on the value of fellowship training, strategies for building the addiction medicine workforce pipeline, his career path, and the work he is doing for the City of Boston.