Building Trust & Equity in Internal Medicine: University of North Carolina School of Medicine

In June 2021, the ABIM Foundation – in partnership with the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation – awarded a total of $287,500 to 32 projects to rebuild trust and address health care diversity, equity and inclusion in medical education and training.

Through one of the grants, Karina Zaveri Whelan, MD, is creating curriculum to implement a health equity-focused quality improvement project for medical students at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Through the curriculum, medical students are using a newly-developed health equity dashboard to identify health disparities amongst patients at UNC Health. The resulting data is analyzed and used to implement various quality improvement measures (in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams) that promote health equity across the system, including:

• Colon Cancer Screening Rate
• Cervical Cancer Screening Rate
• Hypertension Control
• Diabetes Control
• Screening & Treatment of Mental Health Disorders
• Screening for Social Determinants of Health
• Vaccination Rates

Hear more from Dr. Whelan about how the project is improving trust with patients and the community.