In her third 12 months of medical college, IU Well being Gastroenterologist Lauren Nephew, MD, turned intrigued by hepatology — and extra particularly — the impression that social and structural determinants of well being can have on liver illness outcomes.
And ever since that realization, she’s devoted her profession to higher understanding these obstacles and the way they have an effect on weak populations.
“Entry to care is a elementary necessity in life,” mentioned Dr. Nephew. “It’s actually fundamental.”
When she’s not treating sufferers with liver most cancers, Dr. Nephew is formulating options to how she will be able to make that “fundamental want” of care extra obtainable for sufferers who face transportation, language and training obstacles, in addition to monetary constraints.
Presently, she is creating an intervention system that can make it simpler for IU Well being physicians to know when their sufferers are having hassle navigating the system, enabling them to know which sufferers may have extra assist than others in the case of accessing healthcare.
Dr. Nephew is aware of extra must be accomplished and believes philanthropy is essential to successfully addressing well being inequities locally.
“Philanthropy is extraordinarily useful within the house of healthcare obstacles as a result of creating options to disparities are costly,” mentioned Dr. Nephew. “You need to actually spend a while making an attempt to grasp the place the disparities are taking place, after which it’s a must to create customized options which are sustainable.”
Since becoming a member of IU Well being in 2017, Dr. Nephew says she finds objective in centering her work on advancing variety, fairness and inclusion initiatives.
“I attempt to make certain that every part I do professionally is in step with this theme,” she mentioned. “My affected person advocacy work focuses solely on bettering minority well being and it’s a privilege to have the ability to do that work.”
You possibly can assist help efforts like this if you make a present to the Racial Fairness in Healthcare Fund. Make your donation on our giving web page, and choose “IU Well being Statewide” as the placement, and direct your reward to the “Statewide Racial Fairness in Healthcare Fund.”
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