Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Receives HEED Award for Fifth Time

The goal of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix is to train physicians to provide equality health care to diverse populations in the communities we serve.

For the fifth time, the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (OEDI) received the Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the leader in advancing best practices in inclusive excellence and belonging in higher education.

The award recognizes institutions of higher education for their outstanding commitment to diversity, inclusive excellence, and belonging. More than 70 medical institutions in the United States received the 2024 Health Professions HEED Award.

Francisco Lucio, JD, associate dean of OEDI, said receiving the HEED award this year is special because the organization has fulfilled many goals from its Inclusive Excellence in Health Care Strategic plan.

“Notably our launch of our medical Spanish program course, AMIGOSS (Advancing Medical Inclusivity: Growing our Spanish Skills) brings a new skill building dimension for our medical students to provide better care for Spanish speaking patients,” Lucio said.

OEDI’s continued success stems from expanding outreach to the community and focusing on health equity.

“In addition, we continue to bolster our health equity curriculum and outreach to the community through activities like the Black Men in White Coats Conference,” Lucio said. “These efforts along with many others from our dedicated team and College community led to us receiving this distinguished award.”

Rachel Mickel, interim director of OEDI, said that the team is truly honored to be recognized.

“It is a testament to the incredibly dedicated work of each team member, each contributing passion, service, and humility to ensuring the College lives out its commitment to inclusive excellence,” Mickel said. “It is a joy to see the team’s work recognized at this level.”

Advancing health equity through access to quality care and better communication between patients and providers is at the heart of the team’s work.

“I have had the unique opportunity to be a part of this amazing team for almost seven years and see significant changes in our curriculum, faculty development and student body,” said Cammy Bellis, co-director for the Health Equity Longitudinal Curricular Theme and the academic program officer for OEDI. “The work we do is meaningful and important.”