At UAB Heersink School of Medicine, the summer season is often full of change and transition. June sits between the months that we graduate our fourth-year medical students in May and welcome a new class in July.
June is also a time to recognize two of our affinity groups on campus. We honor Juneteenth with our Black/African American faculty, staff, and learners and celebrate Pride Month with our LGBTQ+ faculty, staff, and learners. I look forward to attending several celebratory events for each of these groups.
As we revel in June's opportunities, I am increasingly grateful for my role as Dean and Senior Vice President for Medicine. Across Alabama, UAB facilitates transformational change in the lives of our patients and their families, in new research discoveries, and in training the next generation of clinicians and scientists. I am thankful to continue playing a part.
Lately, I have been reflecting on the incredible speech by Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, at the 2024 Commencement Ceremony. He shared five key takeaways that genuinely moved me. I plan to incorporate these themes in all I do each day.
The first significant takeaway Stevenson discussed was about identity. Our titles of “doctor," "scientist," "director," and so on do not define us. Titles and identities are not the same. As employees of an academic medical center, rooting ourselves in identities of listening, inspiring, and caring is central to creating change in medicine and science.
Stevenson’s second takeaway was on the concept of proximity. It’s easy to separate ourselves from the communities where people are sick and struggling, especially in the United States where there is so much distance between neighborhoods, homes, and communities.
At UAB, many of our staff, faculty, and learners immerse themselves in work in underserved communities; it is truly a point of pride for me. Stevenson talked about seeing proximity as part of who we are. To be a generation of clinicians and scientists healing the world around us, we must get proximate to low-income communities, those with addiction, those with mental health challenges, and those suffering from trauma.
The third concept Stevenson talked about was to work on “changing the narrative." Stigma, misinformation, and false narratives may tell us that some people are less deserving of quality care, or participation in clinical trials or scientific studies. Stevenson said to give everyone our best effort. He encouraged changing the narrative of exclusion and rejection, of fear and anger, and focus on restoring and repairing. There is something better out there, he said, but we will not get there until the narratives that hold us back are changed.
Stevenson’s fourth concept was to stay hopeful. “Hopelessness is the enemy of justice,” he said. It is not always easy to be hopeful, but maintaining hope that things can change for the better is key to having the capacity to heal the world—one patient at a time.
The fifth and final concept was to be uncomfortable and do things that feel inconvenient. “We are programmed to be comfortable and do what’s convenient,” he said, but we have to make decisions to go places where there is doubt and fear. “The opposite of poverty isn’t wealth,” he said, “it’s justice.” When we do the work of justice, we tear down the systems that keep people struggling.
Stevenson said our careers in medicine, science, and administration will be defined by beautiful things along the way, but we can choose to be remarkable in our daily efforts by working on an identity rooted in compassion.
This will help us heal the world around us.
As we move into the summer season, I invite you to increase your compassion and gratitude with me and incorporate the themes of Stevenson's speech into your daily reflections.