A panel discussion about Race in Medicine
From navigating where race plays a role in medicine to what system-wide changes must be made, we explored the landscape of race in medicine with our panelists:
Dr. Henri Ford Dr. Sonjia Kenya, and Dr. Joseph West (see bios below)
Dr. Henri Ford Dr. Sonjia Kenya, and Dr. Joseph West (see bios below)
Meet our Panelists
Dr. Henri Ford -
Dr. Henri R. Ford, M.D., became dean of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine on June 1, 2018.
Dr. Ford is a Haitian-born pediatric surgeon who maintains close ties with his native country. In 2010 he traveled to Haiti after the earthquake to provide surgical care to children injured in the catastrophe. Since then, Dr. Ford has returned to Haiti regularly to provide medical care to its residents. In May 2015, he performed the first successful separation of conjoined twins in Haiti, alongside surgeons he helped train.
He was most recently senior vice president and chief of surgery at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), vice dean of medical education, and professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Dr. Ford was professor and chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery and surgeon-in-chief at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine before joining CHLA in January 2005.
Motivated by a deep desire to have a positive impact on the world and drive important change, Dr. Ford has achieved unprecedented success throughout his career. He has conducted groundbreaking research on the pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis, the most common and lethal disease affecting the gastrointestinal tract of newborn infants. His work has led to new insights into the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this vexing disease. Under his leadership, CHLA developed a robust, state-of-the-art minimally invasive surgery program.
Dr. Ford’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, the National Trauma Registry for Children and the American College of Surgeons, among others. He is the author of more than 300 publications, book chapters, invited manuscripts, abstracts, and presentations.
Dr. Ford is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Surgeons (England), the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
He received his bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs, cum laude, from Princeton University, and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He also received his M.H.A. (Master of Health Administration) degree from the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Sonjia Kenya -
Dr. Sonjia is the best-selling author of Sex in South Beach, a certified sexologist, and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She received her bachelors degree from UCLA and earned two masters degrees along with her doctorate at Columbia University in New York (also where Dr. Ruth trained!). During grad school and a post-doctoral fellowship for the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Sonjia conducted research on sex problems, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual functioning.
Her early faculty appointments were at New York University and the City University of New York, where her human sexuality classes consistently exceeded enrollment capacity. In 2003, Dr. Sonjia was recruited to teach at St. Matthew’s medical school in the Cayman Islands, where she also provided sexual health counseling and wrote a popular sex column in the local newspaper.
The University of Miami (UM) School of Medicine recruited Dr. Sonjia in 2007 to develop programs addressing HIV in Miami-Dade County, which has the highest rates of new HIV infections in America. Since arriving to Miami, the South Florida community has consistently supported Dr. Sonjia in her mission to improve sexual health and romantic relationships. In addition to spreading sexual health through her research and training programs at UM, Dr. Sonjia frequently educates lay people through public speaking events and social gatherings, such as Date Nite Special. She is also the founder of Dignified Health Solutions, a company that develops natural products and education programs to enhance sexual well-being.
Dr. Sonjia’s scientific accomplishments have been featured in dozens of academic journals, lay publications, and the media. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Gilead Pharmaceuticals, and the Department of Health. Her research findings have led to significant changes in sexual health policies. She previously addressed the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief with President Obama’s AIDS czar and currently partners with the Florida Department of Health, directing a comprehensive street-based HIV/AIDS outreach program designed to prevent new infections, increase HIV testing rates, and improve outcomes among people living with HIV. In her free time, Dr. Sonjia volunteers at Lotus House women’s shelter and under-resourced schools throughout South Florida.
Dr. Joseph West -
Joseph F. West, Sc.M., Sc.D., is a Voluntary Assistant Professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences and a Senior Research Consultant for the Florida Institute for Health Innovation.
Dr. West has an extensive background and expertise in epidemiology, population health, and data analytics, specifically spearheading work impacting health equity and the elimination of health disparities. As a result, he is a widely sought-after expert by local, state, and federal policymakers, as well as by leading academic institutions, associations, community-based organizations, community health centers, and private industry. Before joining the Miller School of Medicine, Dr. West was a Founding Member and Chief Population Health Officer for NextLevel Health Illinois, which is a Medicaid Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) that serves more than 55,000 eligible members in Cook County, Illinois with premium revenue reaching over $250 million. He has also served as Co-Chair for Illinois' 1115 Waiver Governor's Office of Health Innovation and Transformation (GOHIT) Provider Integration Initiative, as well as held academic and research appointments at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Governors State University, and University of Chicago Chapin Hall Center for Children.
Dr. West was Senior Epidemiologist at Sinai Urban Health Institute for seven years, where his work focused on diabetes, smoking cessation, and community violence. He has served as a Trustee for the Michael Reese Health Trust and as a Board Member for Advocate Bethany Community Health Fund and United Way of Chicago.
Dr. West is currently Principal Investigator of the Healthy Adaptive Behaviors and Intervention on Trauma – Response and Care (HABIT - RC) Epidemiologic Study, which is funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). He is also Principal Investigator of the Chicago FQHC Population Health Collaborative and co-Investigator on research for climate and health equity and healthy communities in Miami-Dade. He has secured over $7 million in federal support from the NIH, CDC, HRSA, and CMS, as well as private funding. Dr. West has published nearly 50 articles in business and academia, co-authored book chapters in research methodology, and has received several public health awards including the Albert Schweitzer "Reverence for Life" (Harvard), Chicago Defender Man of Excellence, Hildrus Augustus Poindexter Award (APHA) and Delta Omega Public Health Leadership Award.
Dr. West graduated from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with a Master of Science and Doctor of Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology.
Dr. Henri R. Ford, M.D., became dean of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine on June 1, 2018.
Dr. Ford is a Haitian-born pediatric surgeon who maintains close ties with his native country. In 2010 he traveled to Haiti after the earthquake to provide surgical care to children injured in the catastrophe. Since then, Dr. Ford has returned to Haiti regularly to provide medical care to its residents. In May 2015, he performed the first successful separation of conjoined twins in Haiti, alongside surgeons he helped train.
He was most recently senior vice president and chief of surgery at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), vice dean of medical education, and professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Dr. Ford was professor and chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery and surgeon-in-chief at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine before joining CHLA in January 2005.
Motivated by a deep desire to have a positive impact on the world and drive important change, Dr. Ford has achieved unprecedented success throughout his career. He has conducted groundbreaking research on the pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis, the most common and lethal disease affecting the gastrointestinal tract of newborn infants. His work has led to new insights into the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this vexing disease. Under his leadership, CHLA developed a robust, state-of-the-art minimally invasive surgery program.
Dr. Ford’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, the National Trauma Registry for Children and the American College of Surgeons, among others. He is the author of more than 300 publications, book chapters, invited manuscripts, abstracts, and presentations.
Dr. Ford is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Surgeons (England), the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
He received his bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs, cum laude, from Princeton University, and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He also received his M.H.A. (Master of Health Administration) degree from the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Sonjia Kenya -
Dr. Sonjia is the best-selling author of Sex in South Beach, a certified sexologist, and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She received her bachelors degree from UCLA and earned two masters degrees along with her doctorate at Columbia University in New York (also where Dr. Ruth trained!). During grad school and a post-doctoral fellowship for the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Sonjia conducted research on sex problems, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual functioning.
Her early faculty appointments were at New York University and the City University of New York, where her human sexuality classes consistently exceeded enrollment capacity. In 2003, Dr. Sonjia was recruited to teach at St. Matthew’s medical school in the Cayman Islands, where she also provided sexual health counseling and wrote a popular sex column in the local newspaper.
The University of Miami (UM) School of Medicine recruited Dr. Sonjia in 2007 to develop programs addressing HIV in Miami-Dade County, which has the highest rates of new HIV infections in America. Since arriving to Miami, the South Florida community has consistently supported Dr. Sonjia in her mission to improve sexual health and romantic relationships. In addition to spreading sexual health through her research and training programs at UM, Dr. Sonjia frequently educates lay people through public speaking events and social gatherings, such as Date Nite Special. She is also the founder of Dignified Health Solutions, a company that develops natural products and education programs to enhance sexual well-being.
Dr. Sonjia’s scientific accomplishments have been featured in dozens of academic journals, lay publications, and the media. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Gilead Pharmaceuticals, and the Department of Health. Her research findings have led to significant changes in sexual health policies. She previously addressed the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief with President Obama’s AIDS czar and currently partners with the Florida Department of Health, directing a comprehensive street-based HIV/AIDS outreach program designed to prevent new infections, increase HIV testing rates, and improve outcomes among people living with HIV. In her free time, Dr. Sonjia volunteers at Lotus House women’s shelter and under-resourced schools throughout South Florida.
Dr. Joseph West -
Joseph F. West, Sc.M., Sc.D., is a Voluntary Assistant Professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences and a Senior Research Consultant for the Florida Institute for Health Innovation.
Dr. West has an extensive background and expertise in epidemiology, population health, and data analytics, specifically spearheading work impacting health equity and the elimination of health disparities. As a result, he is a widely sought-after expert by local, state, and federal policymakers, as well as by leading academic institutions, associations, community-based organizations, community health centers, and private industry. Before joining the Miller School of Medicine, Dr. West was a Founding Member and Chief Population Health Officer for NextLevel Health Illinois, which is a Medicaid Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) that serves more than 55,000 eligible members in Cook County, Illinois with premium revenue reaching over $250 million. He has also served as Co-Chair for Illinois' 1115 Waiver Governor's Office of Health Innovation and Transformation (GOHIT) Provider Integration Initiative, as well as held academic and research appointments at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Governors State University, and University of Chicago Chapin Hall Center for Children.
Dr. West was Senior Epidemiologist at Sinai Urban Health Institute for seven years, where his work focused on diabetes, smoking cessation, and community violence. He has served as a Trustee for the Michael Reese Health Trust and as a Board Member for Advocate Bethany Community Health Fund and United Way of Chicago.
Dr. West is currently Principal Investigator of the Healthy Adaptive Behaviors and Intervention on Trauma – Response and Care (HABIT - RC) Epidemiologic Study, which is funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). He is also Principal Investigator of the Chicago FQHC Population Health Collaborative and co-Investigator on research for climate and health equity and healthy communities in Miami-Dade. He has secured over $7 million in federal support from the NIH, CDC, HRSA, and CMS, as well as private funding. Dr. West has published nearly 50 articles in business and academia, co-authored book chapters in research methodology, and has received several public health awards including the Albert Schweitzer "Reverence for Life" (Harvard), Chicago Defender Man of Excellence, Hildrus Augustus Poindexter Award (APHA) and Delta Omega Public Health Leadership Award.
Dr. West graduated from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with a Master of Science and Doctor of Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology.