We’re working to serve cultures and communities that have been underrepresented and marginalized by the health care system, and to ensure all feel welcome by reflecting our community's diversity in our hiring and clinical practices. Some examples of work in this area:
Culturally Competent, Socially Inclusive Care
Circumstances we’re helping to improve:
Addressing representation
Some cultures and communities have been underrepresented, and often marginalized, by the health care system and medical community
Creating structural change
Innovative, culturally congruent training prepares future care providers for practice in diverse, often medically underserved communities
Reflecting diversity
Ensuring all feel welcome by reflecting our community’s diversity in our hiring and clinical practices
Some examples of our efforts:
TRAINING FOR ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
Spotlight: Community Health Scholars
A long-established goal of the UC Davis School of Medicine is to train physicians for practice in diverse communities where they are most needed to bridge California’s health equity gap.
The school’s innovative Community Health Scholars programs, and other unique programs for med students and residents, train future doctors to practice in California’s rural, urban, valley and tribal communities. Most of these areas are challenged by health disparities.
INVESTED AND RECOGNIZED
Spotlight: Leader in Healthcare Equality (LGBTQ+)
Named a LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader for 13 consecutive years by the educational arm of the Human Rights Campaign, a national-scale nonprofit that strives to end discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and realize a world that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
TRAINING FOR ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
Spotlight: National honors for educational diversity
Despite California’s long-standing ban on affirmative action, the UC Davis School of Medicine has become one of the nation’s most diverse medical schools as ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
The medical school and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, which employs similar holistic admissions practices, each have received excellence awards from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, and have been in the policy and media spotlight as national models.
TRAINING FOR ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
Creating pathways to health careers
Our initiatives to boost the number of health care providers in underserved parts of Northern California also include a variety of unique “pathway” programs.
These initiatives target students in pre-medical school environments like high school or community college, exposing and preparing them for potential health careers that can help the state’s health care workforce better reflect and serve its diverse population. Some examples:
More Believe in Better Highlights
Some recent examples of our ongoing efforts to advance health for all.
Conversations that matter: Making advance care planning standard care
UC Davis Health improved advance care planning through systemwide, team‑based efforts, boosting document completion rates, advancing equity and ensuring care aligns with patients’ values.
How the School of Medicine built a primary care pipeline to address physician shortages
UC Davis graduates a higher share of primary care physicians than most medical schools, which expands access and addresses shortages in underserved California communities.
UC Davis Pediatric Mobile Clinic brings specialty care to children and families across Sacramento region
This community-centered clinic on wheels offers general pediatrics, mental health, developmental-behavioral pediatrics and asthma care.
School of Medicine students spotlight global health inequities affecting displaced communities
UC Davis Health hosted a conference spotlighting major health gaps facing displaced communities worldwide and strategies to address them.