California Health Care Improvement Projects (CHIPs) are designed by CHCF Health Care Leadership Program participants with the goal of addressing meaningful challenges or opportunities in health care.
In recent years, there has been increased focus on health equity, galvanized by events such as Black Lives Matter, and increased awareness of the porosity of borders during the COVID19 pandemic. In my role as faculty lead for DEI efforts within Stanford’s Division of Primary Care and Population Health (PCPH) as well as faculty lead for the division’s global health partnership in western Kenya, I realized that many of the challenges to health equity globally are at play domestically. Our division’s overarching goal is to create a culture of medicine that embraces belonging and mutual respect. My main curricular tasks were to create a DEI curriculum for faculty and staff in our division; as well as to create a curriculum for rotating Kenyan students to Stanford that ensured reciprocal change. I will present the Kenyan student elective curriculum creation to illustrate the complexities and challenges in creating this shared culture, and to highlight the numerous stakeholders involved.