The Office for Health Equity and Inclusion held its inaugural Health Equity Leadership Weekend on August 9 and 10, 2019. In keeping with its theme of Becoming a Change Agent in Health Equity, the event was designed to further the development of emerging healthcare leaders in diversity, equity and inclusion.

Over 40 students participated in a weekend packed with activities. Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Chief Medical Executive and Chief Deputy Director for Health for the State of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, presented the keynote address: “Six Things every Clinician Should Know about Medicine, Leadership and Advocacy.”

The following day, students attended lectures and workshops that took a deeper dive into health care’s most pressing issues. Dr. Camara Jones, family physician and epidemiologist, whose work focuses on naming, measuring and addressing the impact of racism on the health and well-being of the country, charged participants to combat racial disparities in healthcare during her session, Naming Racism: A Gardener’s Tale.

Additional workshop topics included health and health care disparities; levels of health intervention; institutional change; how health care disparities affect different groups; resilience; tools to achieve health equity; microaggression; and racism. As intended, this highly successful learning experience laid a strong foundation for the ongoing education of next-generation health care leaders.