Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in GI with Sophie M. Balzora, MD

In this podcast episode, Sophie M. Balzora, MD, FACG, discusses how she found an interest in gastroenterology, the importance of having a true diversity, equity and inclusion initiative in the health care field and more.

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• Intro :02
• The interview :22
• Can you tell us a bit about your background? :51
• Was your dad educated as an internist in the United States or in Haiti? 2:32
• How did you decide to become a gastroenterologist? 3:41
• Tell us about what you’re doing these days and what’s your day-to-day role at NYU? 5:13
• Was this a calling? Was it something early on that you knew you wanted to pursue, or did it more call on you? 7:23
• Do you think we’re more likely to make substantive changes by taking smaller, more incremental changes, or making more sweeping changes? 9:37
• What do the words “diversity,” “equity” and “inclusion” mean to you? What do you want the listeners to know for the remainder of the conversation? 11:09
• What motivates you to work on these issues? 14:30
• We’ve known about these inequities for a long time … Why do you think this is the case and what are we starting to do to close this gap? 16:04
• How do we start to tackle the “Minority Tax” and ensure we’re not putting the sole responsibility to fix this system at the feet of Black and female patients and other people of color? 20:55
• You have key leadership roles in numerous organizations … What are some of the initiatives you’ve been focusing on recently and are there any key learnings that you can share about how organizations can improve diversity, equity and inclusion? 24:09
• Have you experienced any of the backlash or discriminatory gaslighting when it comes to the DEI initiatives and what are your thoughts on it? 29:38
• What are the key things that will really make a difference in terms of driving substantive change in the DEI space as opposed to paying lip service? 33:11
• What initiatives do you know going on at NYU or at the college to help improve our training mechanisms to deal with these types of issues? 35:26
• If you were to have any wish in terms of DEI that would happen through the course of your career and by the time you finish up, what would it be? What do you think is realistic as a goal? 40:07
• I want to thank you for all the work you’re doing 43:20
• Thanks for listening 44:57

Sophie M. Balzora, MD, FACG, is a clinical associate professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She is vice chair of ACG's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, senior associate editor of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, and co-founder of ACG's “#DiversityinGI” social media campaign. Balzora serves on the Patient Education Sub-Committee of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation's National Scientific Advisory Committee, the social media team of the CCF's Inflammatory Bowel Disease Journal, and as a member of Fight CRC’s Health Equity Committee. She was also accepted into the inaugural cohort of the Office of Diversity Affairs’ Faculty Leadership Development Program through the NYU Langone Academy.

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Disclosures: Balzora, Berry and Chey report no relevant financial disclosures.