Episode 10- MCW's Health Equity Scholars Program

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Pulse Check,Wisconsin.

(00:25):
Good morning.
Good evening.
Good afternoon.
Whatever it may be for you.
This is Chris Ford again withPulse Check Wisconsin.
And I want to thank you guys forjoining us yet again for another
episode.
Today we have.
Another great episode for you.
We're going to have somestudents on as well as One of
the faculty leads., Dr.

(00:45):
Michael Levis.
Who is running the program,which is called the Health
Equity Scholars Program that isworking in the community of
Milwaukee right now.
In hopes to increase the amountof applicants and matriculants
into medicine from the city ofMilwaukee.

(01:06):
The goal being to not onlyaddress the health and
healthcare disparities that wesee in the city of Milwaukee.
But to also address the upcomingphysician shortage and to
improve the number.
Of physicians from thecommunity.
So it's a great program.
We are hoping to give it more.
Advertisement hoping to increasethe number of applicants to it,

(01:29):
because it is going to have adirect effect in the community.
And the community's healthoverall.
I wanted to start off with acase today.
That will underline andemphasize the importance of such
a program.
So with that being said, let'sgo ahead and start off with.
Our case.

(01:54):
patient is a 57 year old malewho is presenting with
complaints of sore throat andfever.
The patient had been seenearlier.
In the day.
At another emergency department.
And according to that note andto the patients.
History.
The patient is homeless.

(02:15):
The patient is seen in theemergency department often.
He frequents a lot of theemergency departments throughout
the city.
However, the complaints of feverand sore throat appear to be
new.
As compared to his visit at, uh,Nearby hospital a couple of days
prior.
When I went to see the patient,the patient has a temperature of

(02:36):
a 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
His vital signs are otherwisestable and within normal limits.
It's the middle of the winter.
So it's possible that this couldbe something like an upper
respiratory infection.
Of course we're in the middle ofcold and flu season.
COVID is a consideration aswell.
However, when I see the patient.

(02:58):
Of whom I've seen before in thepast, just in working with him
in the emergency department.
I noticed that he's got this newrash that appears to be new from
the last time that I saw him.
The patient has a rash on hishands.
And he also tells me that he hasa similar rash on his feet as

(03:20):
well.
So I take a look at the rash.
And it looks rough.
It looks reddish.
And he informed me that he hasnoticed it over the last several
days.
It's not painful.
It doesn't itch or anything ofthat nature.
So I go back and I take a lookat his most recent records.

(03:42):
And going back a couple ofweeks, it looks like he was
hospitalized.
A couple of weeks ago forcomplaints of chest pain.
Somehow during that visit.
They ended up running severaltests on him at the time.
The patient had blood tests thatwere performed.
And in addition, he had testingfor.

(04:05):
The sexually transmittedinfection.
What came back positive duringthose tests were.
Testing for syphilis, because ofthis, the.
Doctors that saw him.
Prescribed him penicillin Thatwas to be given at an initial
dose.
And then prescribed them a 14day course of doxycycline.

(04:28):
Which is another medication.
To treat.
Syphilis.
however it appears that.
During his course.
The patient ended up leaving theemergency department and.
Not picking up his medications.
I went back and asked thepatient.
If he had picked up hismedications.

(04:49):
Since that time of dischargefrom his most recent visit.
And he informed me that hedidn't have time.
That he was confused as to whatthe medication was for.
I sat the patient down and wetalked a little bit about the
course of syphilis and how itcan affect you in the long-term.

(05:11):
I also explained to the patienthow this is a progressive
disease.
If it's not treated.
And how it can proceed to.
Have some central nervoussystem.
Symptoms as well.
The patient agrees.
And he said that he would.
Take the medication now.
So I went back to the desk and Iprescribed the patient an

(05:36):
additional course at this time.
And it also gave the patientinformation.
Of how to follow up with hisprimary doctor.
In the event additionaltreatment and additional
referral to infectious diseasewas indicated at this time, as
he was now demonstrating signsof secondary syphilis, which is
a progressive form of syphilis.

(05:57):
Unfortunately.
When I went to go back to seethe patient.
The patient had left theemergency department.
And eloped.
I went up to the pharmacy.
And I had the patient'sprescription filled anyway.
Again, the patient has been seenmultiple times in the Emergency
department.

(06:18):
And so I suspected that he wouldcome back at some point in time
and we can give him hismedication at that time.
I explained the situation to thepharmacist and the pharmacist is
very helpful.
I worked out a plan with oursocial worker.
Uh, in order to keep thepatient's medication.
In the social worker's office.
So that when he would come back,we would be able to give him his

(06:38):
medications.
I worked the next week.
And the patient.
Presented again to the emergencydepartment.
At that time, I was able to givehim his medications.
And the patient was able tocomplete the course of the
medications.
Given the duration of treatment.

(07:03):
So a couple of things in thatcase, first off.
This patient is not unlike a lotof patients that we see.
And the city of Milwaukee.
Unfortunately.
There are a lot of patients who,don't have access to care.
There's a lot of differentbarriers that are in place,
especially if you don't haveaccess to transportation.
If you were homeless, if youdon't have the adequate funds in

(07:26):
order to pay for medications.
Or even get to the pharmacy.
What we're seeing, especially ina lot of communities throughout
the city.
Is.
They're increasing barriers toaccess to care.
So not only access to clinics inthe area.
But also, there are a lot ofpharmacies that are pulling out
of the communities as well.

(07:47):
So pharmacies that patients oncewent to are no longer there.
And the closest nearby pharmacy.
Is miles away in some cases.
This patient in particular hadadditional barriers to garnering
that medication.
Given his lack of resources whatthe patient had in this case was

(08:08):
again, syphilis.
Syphilis is a sexuallytransmitted infection.
That can start out as a primaryinfection.
We usually will commonly see itas a painless sore.
Uh, either on the genitals or.
On the body.
The dangerous thing aboutsyphilis is that.

(08:29):
It's a sexually transmittedinfection that essentially has
four stages.
In the first two stages, theycan be relatively mild.
The symptoms that is.
The first stage, latentsyphilis, a patient may start
out with the primary painlesssore.
And then after about three tosix weeks, The wound heals on
its own.

(08:50):
So patients may think that itwas something that came and went
away.
However, if you don't treat it.
And if you don't cure itinitially with penicillin, which
is that primary medication thatwe give.
It can progress to moredangerous phases.
What the patient was manifestinghere in our emergency department
is a secondary.
syphilis And the secondarycourse of syphilis, you usually

(09:13):
will have things like sorethroat.
Fever, you can have some lymphnodes swelling.
Headaches and just kind of feelgeneral fatigue.
The other thing that you'll seecommonly are those reddish.
Or brown.
Rashes that will present on thepalms of the hands and soles of
the feet.
Again, most like the.

(09:33):
Primary syphilis the secondarysyphilis rash may go away on its
own.
And again, that can be somethingthat is very dangerous because
after you've finished thatperiod of time where you're not
having any symptoms.
The infection can go to thethird stage, which is tertiary
syphilis, which is a late stage.
And this stage.

(09:54):
You're no longer contagious, butthe infection has started to
affect your organs.
The infection can also go toyour central nervous system or
to your brain and your spinalcord.
And you'll have problemscontrolling your muscle
movements.
You have problems with walkingor ambulating.
You can even have visionproblems.
There can be numbness and therecan be some complications

(10:14):
associated with dementia.
So I'll say that to say thatit's very important to treat
syphilis as soon as you.
Have suspicion, or as soon asyou test positive, And this
patient's case.
They're the perfect example ofwhy doctors in the community are
important.
Because again, this patient hadbeen to multiple emergency
departments, had been tomultiple hospitals.

(10:37):
And this was something thatslipped between the cracks.
The patient had not had anopportunity to pick up his
medication that didn't reallyhave access to medications.
And if we did not treat him.
Then this is something thatcould have potentially been
dangerous.
I will say that this patient inparticular.
I've seen multiple times since.

(10:57):
This presentation.
And not only is he notdemonstrating any more signs of
secondary syphilis.
He doesn't have any signsconcerning for a tertiary
syphilis.
So I don't think that he'smanifesting another latent
phase.
I think that fortunately, wewere able to treat him in this
timeframe.
having doctors in the community.

(11:18):
From the community.
May help health outcomes ingeneral.
Doctors from the community oftenwill.
Take the next step and putthemselves in the shoes of the
patient that they have in frontof them.
Again, I knew this patient andseeing him before I knew.
That, what I was seeingcurrently was off of his
baseline.

(11:39):
And I took the next step to goto the patient's pharmacy and
pick up the patient's medicationfor him hand, walk it down and
work out a plan with our socialworkers, because I knew the
barriers that were in place forthis patient.
And I knew that that was theonly opportunity that we would
have to treat this patientbefore.
His situation turned dire andbecame even worse.

(12:01):
So with that being said, I wantto segue into our interview.
With our health equity scholarsprogram.
Which is a program that is goingto be designed to improve.
The amount of doctors from thecommunity and improve the number
of doctors within the community.
To help address similar healthdisparities.

(12:21):
And healthcare disparitiesthroughout the city of
Milwaukee.
So would that be and said, let'sgo ahead and transition to our
interview.

Mike (13:06):
So my name is Michael Leavis.
I am a professor of pediatricemergency medicine.
We're clinically mainly at theChildren's Hospital in the
emergency department, but I alsowork closely with a lot of the
traditional pathway and pipelineprograms that the medical
college has.

(13:27):
And I am serving as co directorof the Health Equity Scholars
Program, which we're going to betalking about today.

Chris (13:34):
Awesome.
Amazing.
Well needed in the communitytoo.
So I appreciate all that you'redoing.
Dr Levis is so and then with oursoon to be student doctors, I
guess we can go ahead and startwith delicia.
You want to go ahead and start?
Just kind of what's your nameand where are you from?

Delicia (13:47):
Yes.
My name is delicia Simpson.
I'm originally from Milwaukee,Wisconsin.
And I'll be a first year medicalstudent at MCW this fall.

Chris (13:57):
Awesome.
Awesome.
Welcome.
Welcome to the club here.
And Miracle, you want to goahead and kick off too?

Miracle (14:04):
Absolutely.
So my name is Miracle Powell.
Me and Delisha come from similarbackgrounds.
Side note, we are best friends.
Middle school.
I am also from Milwaukee,Wisconsin, and I will also be
starting as a medical student.
And Test scholar in the nextcouple of weeks at the medical

(14:27):
biology Wisconsin as well.

Chris (14:29):
Awesome guys.
Awesome.
Very excited.
So I guess, you know, we cankind of start out just with some
background.
Mike, if you want to give ussome background as to what the
program is and kind of whatinspired MCW to initiate a
program like this specificallytargeting you know, residents of
Milwaukee.

Mike (14:47):
Yeah, so the, the Health Equity Scholars Program really
started and was kind of thebrainchild of a community leader
assistant fire chief JoshParrish who was talking to
leaders here at the MedicalCollege about what they did for
their fire cadets and some ofthe novel ways that they

(15:09):
recruited and really found thefirefighters that the community
wanted to be their firefighters.
So some of the novel things theydid was they had kind of co
learning environments for thecadets where they offered,
cohabitation and housing so thatthe cadets could train together
and build up a sense ofcommunity.

(15:30):
And then they also includedcommunity members on their
boards that were selectingfuture cadets, basically kind of
changing that paradigm.
And instead of.
Milwaukee fire saying, here'sthe cadets.
We're going to have work for thecommunity, asking the community,
which cadets do they want to betheir firefighters?

(15:52):
So that's circulated aroundthrough leadership here at the
medical college.
And, you know, I've beeninvolved, I am a graduate of the
medical college of Wisconsin.
I'm not going to tell you howlong ago it was, but I was the
president of the Latino medicalstudent association.
When I came back to work here, Iwas an aim mentor.
You know, so 1 of the thepathway pipeline programs I've

(16:14):
had.
And involved with a lot of thoseprograms.
And I think the medical collegehas done a really good job of
exposing youth from all over thestate, including Milwaukee, to
health care, to the potentialjobs.
One thing we have not had a goodtrack record of is once we

(16:35):
expose getting those, thoseyouth to want to stay.
And want to stay in Milwaukee,want to practice in Milwaukee.
So we've had this Health EquityScholars Program is really an
idea that wanted to addressthat.
Right?
So what more can we do as aninstitution?
How can we You know, break downcertain barriers for individuals

(17:01):
to stay in practice in Milwaukeeor in underserved communities.
And how can we really invest inthose, you know, Potential
students, those students thatreally are interested in health
equity and interested inpracticing locally and I'm sure

(17:21):
we'll talk a little bit moreabout everything else, but
really, really, I want to give ashout out to assistant chief
Josh.
She's just a brilliant mind and,you know, the whole idea of
translating what's working in 1industry to another is, I think,
has been really fruitful.

Chris (17:40):
Yeah, and that's perfect.
You know, the kind of that ideaof that community retention,
right?
Like you see that and all can beon all progressive organizations
now, especially at the statelevel to we're trying to retain,
you know, trying to avoid thatbrain drain in the state of
Wisconsin and more so in thecity of Milwaukee.
We had Dr Nimmer, who is withthe Department of Pediatrics as

(18:01):
well.
She came on during our lastepisode.
Thanks And she talked about, youknow, how that health inequity
can be remedied in some sense byhaving folks from the community,
folks who look like theirpatients, folks who understand
kind of that you know, thatjourney that patients will walk
and how that translates intobetter patient outcomes, how

(18:22):
that translates into thatretention of your patient panel
and, you know, visits and thingslike that.
So, you know, I applaud, likeyou said, I applaud you guys
for, for working in thecommunity with community
advocates, as well as retain,retaining folks from the
community, pulling from thecommunity as well.
For Delisha and Miracle, youknow Dr.
Levis mentioned a couple ofprograms there that, you know,
some folks from Milwaukee canget involved in kids that have

(18:44):
ideas of going into medicine.
Can you guys speak to, you know,any involvement that you guys
have had and your journey into,getting to where you guys are
right now being student doctors?

Miracle (18:52):
Absolutely.
So, first and foremost, Dr, Idid not know that you were an
aim mentor that made me so happybecause I also participated in
aim.
I participated in all 3 of thepipeline programs that are
offered by office of studentinclusion and diversity at M.
C.
W.
So a mentorship and medicine.

(19:13):
R.
O.
DSHRAP, which are short acronymsfor very long program names
those programs were literallythe catalyst for why I decided
to go into medicine.
Those programs exposed me tothings I feel like students
don't Get to experience untilcollege, sometimes medical

(19:34):
school.
For example, in the aim program,we got to go into the anatomy
lab and see cadavers and learnabout anatomy and physiology
firsthand.
And then in Rosen DSHREP beingable to be inside of bench labs
and being able to see sciencetranslate to the clinic space
that early on was extremelyinstrumental in.

(19:56):
This entire process, I wouldlike to say I would not be a
first year medical student hereat M.
C.
W.
without the exposure that I hadin those programs.
I am indebted to those programs.
I will forever ever supportthose programs.
They really meant a lot to mepersonally.

Delicia (20:15):
And for me, I did not participate in any of the
pipeline programs.
I did apply, but I also wasinvolved in the upper bound math
and science program at MarquetteUniversity for all 4 years of
high school.
And so that program taught me alot about.
Because it was focused on mathand science, I of course got my

(20:37):
science brain from there.
I've always wanted to be aphysician since middle school.
And so I knew that I needed tofocus on the sciences and the
math math courses in order to bea strong competitor for medical
school.
But I also, because of MiracleBean and Ames and Rose and D.
Shrepp and a few of our otherfriends have been in there as

(20:58):
well.
I got to also learn from them aswell.
And I know that their journeyswere so amazing with the
program, and I know the programis super duper amazing.
I wanted to go to.
So it's really overall, thepipeline programs were really
beneficial in helping just theyouth get ready used to medical
colleges in general, and justthe field of medicine also.

Miracle (21:20):
And then I'd also like to add to with the pipeline
programs at MCW not only do Ifeel like they provide that
early STEM and healthcareexposure, but I feel like it is
just a beautiful space for youthto be in when it comes to seeing
other young people.
Medical students, physicians,and just health care
professionals who come fromunderrepresented backgrounds

(21:43):
just because, you know, theschools that students attend
outside of MCW, they don't havethat type of representation.
And so just being able to spendan entire summer.
In filling your mind with, youknow, science and also
professional development isextremely instrumental to that

(22:03):
early professional developmentin high school and then leading
throughout college.

Chris (22:09):
Yeah.
And thank you guys for touchingon that too, because As we're
hearing right now in the media,especially the local media,
we're hearing a lot of thingsabout MPS and you know how some
folks that are going there, howit's hard for them to obtain
secondary education and evenprofessional education like,
like medical school.
Before we get into kind of thenuts and bolts of the program
that you're in right now, canyou guys walk us through a

(22:31):
little bit of your own personaleducational journeys?
Did you guys go to school herein Milwaukee?
Where'd you go for undergrad?
Things of that nature.
Sure.
Just to give our listeners alittle bit more background and
just to hear it from, your ownjourney

Delicia (22:43):
yes.
Thank you for asking thatquestion.
So again, I was raised here inMilwaukee, so I, I have attended
NPS for my entire life,Milwaukee Public Schools.
I started at Starm's Elementarythen I went to Capital West
Academy, which was more of aprivate school it's no longer
here and then for middle schoolI went to Morris Marshall for

(23:05):
the Gifted and Talented, andthen, yes, we both did, and then
for high school, we both went toWoofus King.
For my undergrad, I completed myDevelopmental psychology degree
at the University of Minnesota,Twin Cities.
And then after that, I took somegap years.
I completed a post bac programat Northwestern Health Sciences

(23:27):
University in Minnesota.
And then now I'm here back inMilwaukee for, to attend medical
school.
Welcome

Chris (23:34):
back.
Welcome home.
Yes.

Delicia (23:37):
Thank

Miracle (23:37):
you.
And then as far as myeducational path, my path was
not.
100 percent linear.
So I started out at HamptonElementary, which was literally
five minutes away from mychildhood home.
And I want to say that that isreally where my spark for
science started because Inoticed a, what I now can put

(24:00):
language to a disparity in ourscience education in fifth
grade.
So when I was in fifth grade, Ican vividly remember we would
only learn science One time outof the week for maybe 30 minutes
a day at the end of the day.
And I remember this so vividlybecause I remember how

(24:20):
frustrated I would feel becausescience was innately my favorite
subject and I wasn't gettingthat.
And so that was one of the firstyou know, experiences that I had
where I felt where I felt likeeven as a child that my
education was.
Lacking so I attended Hamptonelementary from there.
I went to Morris Marshall HighSchool for middle school.

(24:41):
They were combined.
I did 1 year at Riverside HighSchool graduated for Rufus King
in 2017 with the Alicia.
First year of college I did atUW Oshkosh and then I ended up
transferring and completing myBachelors of Science and Psych
at the University of Houston.
Beautiful experience I had thereas well.

(25:01):
Came back here to Milwaukee todo some gap years at UWM and now
starting at the Medical Collegeof Wisconsin.
So, and I also did want to addanother experience that I feel
like that we should may be ableto touch on as well.
That mean experience in middleschool.

(25:21):
So, we would have metaldetectors and weapon detectors.
At our school early in themorning, couldn't even enter the
building without the entireschool going through this
process of, of, you know,looking for weapons.

(25:43):
And I feel like having thatexperience that early on in
perspective, the environmentthat our early education, yes,
was surrounded by and.
I don't know.
I, I just feel like it, it, itaffected me and I don't know, at
least you can take it fromthere, but it was just It was it

(26:06):
was difficult having thatexperience that early on.

Delicia (26:09):
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, I'll definitely touch onthat.
I remember we didn't have thosethe metal detectors in those
things until maybe like the 2ndmonth of 6th grade and it was
such a jarring experiencebecause Again, I had come from a
private school too.
So it was kind of like, I waslike, wait, what's going on?
What is this?
And it like started your day offwith the imminent sense of

(26:33):
danger in a sense.
And now that I look back on itand I've spoken to so many
people in different States,especially in Minnesota, since
that's where I completed myundergrad.
And they had such differentexperiences.
They never had metal detectorsat their schools and their.
The way that their educationsystem was set up was completely
different and until knowing thatthat was an anomaly.

(26:57):
I didn't think about it deeper.
But it was truly truly a jarringexperience and I don't.
And ever since sixth grade, wehad always had metal detectors,
even at our high school we woulddo random checks and things like
that.
And it was it's hard to put intowords kind of the feeling that
you have as a sixth grader whereyou're just coming into like a

(27:17):
whole new world and you'reautomatically met with metal
detectors and police at yourschool every single morning.
And yeah, it's, it's, it'sreally, really hard.
To be quite honest, yeah.

Chris (27:30):
And I think that's even more of a testimony to, like,
the importance of programs likethis, right?
Yes.
Especially, you know, if you'regoing into pediatrics, if you're
in the emergency department, ifyou're having any interface with
anyone who is an adolescent oranyone who could be experiencing
that on a day to day basis, Iactually had a similar
experience with you all with theChicago Public Schools, right?
And so, like, we had the metaldetectives, we had, you know,

(27:50):
the police dogs do randomsearches on our lockers every
now and then, right, and policein, police in the building.
Yeah.
And so, you know, without havingthat context, you know, and
without having that idea of whatthings could be barriers in the
way of someone's educationoutside of, as Miracle spoke to,
you know, sometimes someeducational deficit, just
getting in the building is anexperience, right?

(28:12):
So, you know, there's veryimportant.
It's important to have thatexperience and also to have that
experience in context of being aprovider who is empathetic to
that situation, who canunderstand, the direction that
this, that, that your patientsare walking in and can
understand, you know, whythey're late for an appointment,
you know, do they have access tocare?
It seems like that.
So thank you guys for sharingthat.
So Dr.

(28:33):
Levis, in general, just kind ofgiving us the outline of the key
objectives of this program, andby, you know, implementing
pathways to have folks from thecommunity come into the medical
college and hopefully, you know,matriculate and retain them in
the state of Wisconsin.
Can you outline some of theobjectives and how we will
address these unique challengesexperienced by.

(28:53):
Some of our students,

Mike (28:54):
yeah, yeah, the so the program is called the health
equity scholars program.
And really the whole basis isthe idea of, of training future
physicians who wants to knowwhat health equity is.
So, to your point aboutunderstanding the different
challenges that every individualhas brings uniquely to their

(29:19):
health care experience.
We wanted students that reallyalready had a lot of that worked
in some of those areas, have hadexperiences, had deep
connections to Milwaukee first,Wisconsin second, and, you know,
then beyond that, had experiencein underserved communities.

(29:42):
So we have five health equityscholars you're meeting Delisha
and Miracle right now we alsohave us.
Sierra, Alex, and Ghani who willbe starting as well.
And really everyone who applied,we had over a hundred
applications so first andforemost, everyone had to be

(30:03):
accepted to our medical schoolfirst.
We're not, we weren't part ofthe, the decision process in
terms of, of Who got into themedical college of Wisconsin.
We have a separate admissionsprocess.
So but this was an application.
So, once students were acceptedin the medical school, everyone
was offered this program.
And we had, again, over 100applications, we had 4 months of

(30:28):
interviews where we had currentstudents on that panel,
community leaders on that panel.
And two professors on the paneland then we, we basically, the
community decided that theywanted Delisha, Miracle, Gunny,
Alex, and Sierra to be theirdoctors, right?

(30:51):
This, that's the unique part ofthis.
So the first thing we addressedis, is the community is saying,
this is who, this is who I see.
As being whatever, this is themedical student I want to see
training and in clinic where I'mgoing, right, that the community
is telling us that, right,that's the first thing that, you

(31:12):
know, that this programacknowledges is that we haven't
done that before.
I don't know many programs thathave done that before.
When we talk to funders, likeRobert Wood Johnson, the
foundation.
Well, the minute we told themthat we had community leaders on
the selection committee, theywere like, whoa, they hadn't
heard of that before.
Right.
And I think that's the firstpart of addressing health equity

(31:33):
is, is changing that, that theshifting the way we think of
medical school, instead of beinga privilege is more being a duty
to the patients.
Right.
You know, so knowing that,knowing what medical school is
like across the country, medicalschool is hard Deletion Miracle,
I don't think we've lied to youabout that.

(31:54):
It's not, it's not easy, right?
It's hard, but thenacknowledging that if it's our
duty to train the future, totrain the provider that can That
is giving empathetic andknowledge based care, then we

(32:14):
also have to make sure that theysucceed.
So in the, the curriculum, it'sa mix of mentorship, a mix of
exposure, and then a ton ofsupport.
And that's how we are.
We have advertised the program.
That's how we plan the program.

(32:36):
Right away, we're going to startout with orientation.
That's going to have somecommunity leaders that come in
and talk about their programsand opportunities and how they
see physicians and providers inthe health equity space.
But then we're also going tohave, some sessions that were
really informed by currentstudents.

(32:57):
We, we did whole focus groups.
We probably could publish onthis.
We did focus groups with currentstudents and asked them, What's
missing?
What do you wish you had?
What kind of, you know, whatkind of training, what, what
topics do you wish that themedical school would address?
Why, You know, if you'rematching somewhere else and go

(33:18):
into another city after youtrain here, why?
What's, what's the reason why?
So we took all that informationand we're, we're we've devised a
curriculum that will expose ourfive health equity scholars to
these resources.
You know, financial, you know,financial planning resources you
know living resource, housingresources self care resources.

(33:42):
And then we're really embeddingkind of the mentorship in with
these experiences.
The mentors are going to.
Have the opportunity to sharethe experiences with the health
equity scholars.
When we have some mindfulnesstraining, when we do yoga with a
community, community basedorganization, the mentors are

(34:04):
going to hang out with you too.
It will probably bring ourfamilies.
Right?
It's going to be more of acommunity building, a family
building, a different approachto, to, medical education.
You know, I wanna, there's somany things I wanna, I wanna say
'cause I think it's, it'sreally, you know, I'm super
excited about it and, and themedical school is super excited

(34:25):
about it.
But I think, you know, the, theframework it is our first year.
I think that one of the thingsthat is really unique about the
leadership team that we have isthat we're pretty flexible.
Both of the co directors wereemergency medicine physicians.
We can move, we can shift on thefly.

(34:47):
Chris, you know, right.
So we can shift on the fly.
We have planned feedbacksessions.
We want deletion miracle to tellus what's working and what's not
because next year we want tomake it better.
And next year, guess what?
Deletion miracle.
We're probably going to ask youto be on our interview, on our

(35:07):
interview panel because we wantto know who you think would be a
good partner.
Right?
So, we plan on evolving this.
We plan on, on really making itsomething where, you know,
Talisha and Miracle, it would behard for you to leave because
you feel so tied in already.
And even if you do leave, likeif you go to Harvard, So

(35:29):
residency cool go, but I wantyou to come back.
Right?
We want you to feel like this isyour home and this is where
where you want to practice.
Yeah,

Chris (35:43):
you guys should probably publish this as you said before,
because I don't know of anyother program.
I'm so proud that this programis, is coming out of my alma
mater as well as at the Levisaid too.
But, you know, programs likethis are invaluable.
One of the things that I wouldsay kind of coming from south
side of Chicago was to,integrate into medical

(36:04):
education.
Now, you know, there's a hugecultural shock.
There's a huge transition thatyou need to make and sort of
having not only some facultythat are there to help you with
that transition, but that 11that you were saying there's
going to be community leaders tothat will be there to assist
students.

Mike (36:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
We have so we've been workingclose with Janine Edwards, who's
a community leader.
She's helping us to develop alot of curriculum.
She has tons of connections withbusinesses in the community.
So, you know, when we talk aboutDr.
Cassie Ferguson, she's the otherco director and her All of her

(36:42):
research and all of herexpertise is in wellness,
belonging and medical healtheducation.
So, as she, as we develop someof this curriculum, she has
expertise in what works and whatJenny Edwards is helping us with
is connecting us with the peoplein the community that do that
stuff so that we're tapping in.

(37:03):
To the community, you know, wehaven't talked about, you know,
the tie on with the Thrive Oninitiative, which is which is on
Martin Luther King Boulevardthat's going to be the center of
the program.
We're going to be housed, right?
And, you know, we have officesright there with all the other
medical school offices that aregoing into Thrive On, along with

(37:24):
the Greater MilwaukeeFoundation, all kinds of other
community partners.
Hey, you know, geez, barbersright across the way we plan at
partnering with, you know,cheese barbershop.
We have the Howard fulleracademy is right across.
I could throw a stone and it'sthere.
Right?
We have all these connectionsand that's who, you know.

(37:44):
The community is excited.
They want, they, they wantaccess to the, the five has
scholars because they want toconvince them when they, as they
develop their medical schoolprojects.
Right.
Do it here.
We've got these resources.
So, so we're, we're reallytrying to really integrate into
the idea of being an anchorinstitution.

(38:07):
We see that thrive on buildingas being kind of an.
You know, can serve as an anchorin the community as kind of a
hub where, you know, ourscholars can.
Really use that it's kind oflike the neural center where,
you know, all their connectionsare there.
There's meeting space there.

(38:28):
There's community spaces there.
There's community basedorganizations there.
There's residents living inthere and then hopefully.
You know, the, the.
That a residential part of thebuilding isn't done yet, but the
idea is that these, there wouldbe apartments that are available
to the, to the health equityscholars so that they can also

(38:49):
live with the community thatthey're serving.
Right?
And I think 1 of the mostpowerful.
Things that Jackie heard Barbarawas she's a board trustee member
community pillar and she she wason our selection committee.
And 1 of the things she said isI want the students at Howard

(39:11):
fuller to look across the streetand see.
Someone in a white coat thatlooks like them.
Policy.
Policy that can talk to them.
Mm-Hmm.
yes.
And know that that's, and, andwonder what's that white coat
mean?
And maybe have a conversation.
Right.
Mm-Hmm.
And have, you know, so I, Ithink, I think being, you know,

(39:33):
having the whole idea of likethe, you know, what.
What Josh Parrish brought aboutthat living, that learning
community, and then embedding itright in, right in that hub
center, I think is a reallyanother novel piece that

Chris (39:47):
hopefully will be fruitful.
Absolutely.
And for those unfamiliar Dr.
Levis, can you tell us a littlebit about ThriveOn just to kind
of give our listeners a littlebit more background for it.
And then we'll kind of tie intoit.
Well, how it connects to the, tothe program.

Mike (40:01):
Yeah, so ThriveOn initiative is an initiative with
the Greater MilwaukeeFoundation, partnering with the
Medical College of Wisconsin.
And really it's an, The ThriveOn building, it was an old, I
want to say gimbals.
That I miracle I was talking toyour dad, I can't remember
shopping there, but it was anold gimbal.

(40:24):
So it was an old really, it's anold.
Department store that waspurchased by this and this
collaboration royal capitalinvestments, you know, a whole
bunch to name but basically, theidea was investing.
Into the community and havingspace there where, you would
have residential space, but youwould also have business space

(40:48):
and then also medical collegecommunity based programs there.
So our HIV program is there for,and for life, which is our,
which is freighters hospitalbased violence intervention
program is there.
The comprehensive injury centeris going to be housed there.
And I.

(41:08):
I can't name all of them, but ifyou name a medical college
community based program, it'sprobably going to be housed
there now.
It's more centralizing it,right?
Kind of getting away from theivory tower concept that we have
out here in Wauwatosa.
And then partnering with, youknow, local businesses that, you
know, the, there's going to be acatering company on the 1st

(41:31):
floor and a restaurant that's,you know black gold, right?
There's, there's a childdevelopment center.
That's that's going to be on the1st floor there.
And then there's again, theresidential part.
It's in the building.
There's going to be.
Mixed income intergenerational,there's a community space that
organizations across the citycan can use.

(41:55):
There's a team space on the 1stfloor.
And really, it's, it's kind ofneat, because.
They stayed I'm not anarchitect, but the architects
are really like, they're kind ofreal excited about all of the
old keeping, like, all of theold designs.
So there's really, really neatarchitecture in there.
It's I was just in the 1st floorspace and it's really.

(42:20):
It's really come along nicely.
There's going to be, I think, agrand opening is planned for
late summer, early fall, andthey just had the ribbon cutting
last week, but it's a hugeinvestment.
You know, the cities involved,you know, I think the mayor was
at the ribbon cutting thethere's there's some state

(42:40):
funding going into it togovernor give a shout out to the
health equity scholars duringhis 2 minute speech at the
ribbon cutting.
So it is it is a big investmentwith.
You know, a lot of ideas oncollaboration and how do we
really show the community thatwe want, you know, medical
college wants to be an anchorinstitution.

(43:00):
Medical college is going to puttheir money where their mouth is
and, and really invest and thenyou know, we just had.
A meeting yesterday, and we hadsomeone who's works in the
cancer center who does thecommunity work and she is
already planning, you know,learning sessions and community

(43:23):
discussions and like learningcircles really trying to address
all of the.
Disparities there are just incancer alone, right?
And, and then getting trust fromthe community and explaining in
real words what the data means,right?

(43:44):
And asking the community whatthey want to know about it and
what, what, you know, where arethey seeing the barriers?
It's, it's going to be a verypowerful space.
We have, our offices are therewe have two offices and then
there's a lot of communitycommunity space where, you know,
I think.
That's where a lot of ourorientation next week, deletion
miracle is going to be.

(44:05):
He will be in the space.
I got him a badge already.
We're good.
Nice.
Nice.

Chris (44:10):
And, you know, 1 of the things that comes up oftentimes
when I'm doing lectures to premeds, or if I'm mentoring them
on the path of how to become,physicians.
Are some of the financialbarriers, which are real, right?
Especially if you're coming fromthe inner city what programs or
what measures are in place bythis program to address sort of

(44:32):
those financial barriers and to,you know, are there any.
Coverage is for like tuitioncosts, living expenses.
You made mention of potentiallyone day getting those apartment
buildings, which is going to bea huge you know, avenue for a
lot of folks who can't afford itthemselves, or, you know, coming
from a situation in the innercity, what programs are in place
right now from this pathway?

Mike (44:52):
So thank you for that question.
The so when we did those focusgroups with the medical students
1 of the things we heard wasthat there's a huge financial
barrier.
Your average medical studentcoming out of training is going
to be almost 300, 000 dollars indebt.
That's across the country.
I see you nodding your head,Chris.

(45:14):
I just paid mine off.
I'm 20 something years out and Ijust paid my student loans off
last year.
So finances are a big barrierand there's a lot of evidence in
health equity work that money isa real barrier to, to how we

(45:34):
choose our future positions,right?
So it's a lot of evidence.
Even there's some, some goodevidence that shows that even
the, the loan repayment programsthat have kind of been the
traditional staple, they're onlytemporary and and, you know,
getting providers to stay.
In the underserved communities,right?
You know, working on on the, youknow, at the reservations for

(45:57):
the indigenous populations,working in urban or rural
underserved communities, theloan repayment programs usually
wants that.
Period of of.
Time paid back is done a lot ofproviders move on and a lot of
that is because of, you know,recuperating financial delays,

(46:19):
right?
And and and and pay.
So.
We, when we were talking to oneof the fire department one of
the cool things about thatliving learning community for
the cadets is it wasn't, youknow, they didn't really have
to, it was kind of like freehousing, right?
So we heard from our currentstudents that like, oh, yeah, if

(46:39):
you could pay for, for ourapartments, our rent, that would
be a definitely something thatwould, would Decrease that
barrier to for our futuredecisions.
So, when we initially designedthe program we've we garnered
you know, donations from fromfoundations on the idea that we

(47:00):
would have living learningcommunities that were free to
the students that that were,that enrolled in our program the
Green Bay Packer Foundationamong some other foundations
thought it was a really goodidea.
They invested.
And so we had that covered rightaway.
When we proposed this idea toour Dean Dean Kirshner, he said,

(47:21):
you know what?
I like this program so much.
I'll do you one better.
I'll give them four years oftuition free.
So right now, powerful, right?
Yes.
Huge investment.
So right now and there are 3other health equity scholars

(47:42):
will go to the middle college ofWisconsin with full scholarships
and with housing covered, whichare, you know, right?
I'm.
I'm a data, I'm a scientist,right?
I'm a researcher.
I got research grants.
So, like, my hypothesis, ourhypothesis is that by trying to

(48:04):
decrease that, that hurdle, thatbarrier and get rid of that
right away, that we open up moreoptions for them to decide to,
you know, Really follow theirpassion, right?
So they don't, so that's the,what reimbursement is for their
services might weigh less ontheir decisions in the future.

(48:25):
It's hard, right?
It's really hard to go out and,you know, I don't know many
people that, you know, Take a,you know, take a huge pay cut in
any field.
At some point, that pay cutsoutweighs your passion and you
have to provide for your family.
You have loans to pay.

(48:45):
So we're trying to get rid ofthat barrier.
And Really, you know, allow thehealth equity scholars to not
have that on their mind asthey're really deciding what
they're passionate about, wherethey want to work, who they want
to work with, you know, becausethey won't have that debt.

(49:05):
And you're seeing some, a lot ofmed schools across the country
do similar things.
And why you famously, I thinktheir whole student body goes
for free because if you look atat.
Medical schools income, youknow, across the country,
tuition is just a really,really, really small portion of

(49:26):
it.
And in order to be competitivefor, you know, top students
there's a lot of, you know,Duke, I think we, we did a
comparison and there's like 10other schools that are doing
similar type of scholarshipbased or, you know, fee waivers
tuition waivers.
Sorry.
And I think that's, that's justa nod to the fact that like, if

(49:50):
we want to have a, diversity ofproviders Mm-Hmm.
from we can't just, we can'thave finances be the barrier
that we lose out.
And so people just Mm-Hmm.
it's not financially feasible.
Right.
Right.
And or that$300,000 debt makesme decide that I, I don't know.

(50:14):
I love adolescent medicine, butI don't know that.
Take and provide for my family,right?
I'm using adolescent medicine.
I love adolescent medicine docsout there It is a calling and
but you know, traditionally notreimbursed at the same rate as
say a cardiothoracic surgeon AndI think some of the reality of

(50:36):
the shortages of providers thatwe're seeing or that they're
predicting is that you know it'sIt's hard to choose pediatrics
when you can go into adultmedicine and make a, you know, a
third more right?
And then it's hard to choosemedicine when you can go into

(50:58):
surgery and make even more,right?
And I think.
you know, it's, it's not uniqueto, you know, Physicians,
Physician Assistants, we're allhuman to There's a lot of
altruism in what we do, but inthe end the financial burdens
drive a lot of decisions.

(51:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
I've had three kids, I'm sendingone of them to college next
year.
You know, it's, it's.
Everyone's got fees, right?
Everyone has to feed my kids.
I got, you know, it's, it'severyone has, has those tangible

(51:39):
pressures and we just want to,we wanted to, to get rid of that
pressure.
And see what happens, right?
You know, see what Alicia andMiracle and Alex and Sierra and
Gadi decided to do.
And then for next year, youknow, we're going to have
another 5, so we'll have we havethe, the, the other exciting

(52:03):
piece is.
Through all this momentum weapply for HW Advancing Healthy
Wisconsin grant and they agree,they just notified us that they
approved Funding to have thenext 3 to 5 years.
So we know what's a pilot.

(52:25):
We want to show return oninvestment.
We want to show success.
We want to show we want to be amodel for the rest of the
medical school.
Right?
Like, if.
If we support medical studentsin a certain way, does it, does
it, you know, can those betranslated to the rest of the
student population, some ofthese practices so that we can
decrease, you know, burnoutstudent burnout so that we can

(52:48):
decrease Increased success interms of, you know steps and
boards and that sort of thing.
So, so we're, it is a pilotprogram and we are very
thankful.
Delicia, Miracle, thank you forstepping into our pilot and
helping us, but we see this as apartnership.

(53:09):
I think a lot of the way in thefuture that the program goes and
is going to be.
Written by delicia and miracleand their colleagues, right?
Their ideas what's working?
What's not those are going to100 percent be incorporated to
the next.
And then we have to ask aboutbuilt in mentorship.
What better mentor for nextyear's health equity scholars

(53:31):
than this year's health equityscholars.
Right?
Especially.
You know, if we can get, if alot of them choose to live in
the same building, right?
Like, that's built in.
I had to say,

Chris (53:46):
yeah,

Mike (53:46):
the support.
I, I, when I went to medicalschool, again, I'm not going to
tell you how long ago I think Istudied with my dog.
And, and then I wanted to like,remember that bookstore borders?
Yep.
Yep.
I was there, right?
Like I, like, it wasn't I hadsome people I studied with, but

(54:07):
like, we'd have to like meet up.
It would have been really niceto just go next door or to be
like, Hey, I'm having trouble inthis OB GYN rotation, but I know
you did this.
Let's have, you know, can wehave dinner tonight?
Like, like, cause we live righthere.
Absolutely.
That's the vision for this.
And, and we're, I know it'sgoing to be successful.

(54:29):
I think it's, it has been triedand I think it's probably the
next model for successfulprograms.

Chris (54:37):
And to your point, you know, I, I won't get overly
political.
I won't wear that hat today, butwhat I will say is, you know, as
we're seeing more and moreattacks on like DNI initiative,
diversity, equity, and inclusioninitiatives, it's, it's, it's
heartening to know you know, atthe medical college and other
private groups are, are.
Putting, you know, their moneywhere their mouth is and like
really pushing forward to createthese avenues to create these,

(55:00):
you know, communities that aregoing to help improve, you know,
that retention, improve thosenumbers of DNA candidates,
because I mean, ultimately,even.
Historically, with similarprograms like you spoke to, Dr.
Levis in place, we're still onlysitting at about, you know, five
or six percent in terms ofAfrican American physicians in
the United States of America,you know Latino American four

(55:21):
percent, you know, right?
So we're, we're, we're, we'renot anywhere close to where our
populations are, especially inthe city of Milwaukee when you
have a majority minority, and Ican tell you this personally,
because I reviewed all the civicdata and all this stuff.
Census data.
For the first time, I have amajority minority population
here in the city of Milwaukee.
It would behoove us to havethese communities in place and
to have these avenues these moreso the safe spaces for not only

(55:44):
the community to choose theirpositions, but also for those,
you know, potential candidatesto have a safe environment to
learn and to make theirexperience the best that it
could be in order to achieve atthe highest levels.
So one thing I'll say the bestfor last year.
So what I want to ask Deliciaand Miracle, and you guys can
start either way you want, what,what are your own personal goals

(56:08):
in medicine?
And like, what are you hoping todo?
You know, like, like Dr.
Levis was saying, you guys havea huge responsibility, but I
commend both of you for, fortaking it on and kind of being
those mentors for the nextgenerations, even though you
just started, right.
But like, what, what are some ofthe things that you guys are
hoping for both personally andprofessionally in medicine?

Delicia (56:28):
Yes.
So first, I just want to saythank you to Dr.
Levis, Dr.
Ferguson.
This program is truly likeamazing.
I can't, I'm so excited to be apart of the program just as much
as you guys are excited for usto start.
I'm excited to start for youguys as well.
So I do, I am interested inchild psychiatry, child and

(56:49):
adolescent psychiatry andpediatrics as well.
I do want to work with kids.
I love working with kids.
I think that because they arethe future, it's a very
important for us to attend totheir mental health, their
health in general, especiallywith the times that we're having
now, especially with, you know,kids having to be home all the
time with covid and like thetransition out of that.

(57:11):
I can see just.
Being around people with kidsand just social media, I can see
that that's has taken a toll.
And so that's the generationthat I find is just, you know,
needing the most help right now.
So, professionally, I do intendto either be a child
psychiatrist or pediatrician inhopes to come back to Milwaukee.

(57:34):
If I end up leaving forresidency, which we don't want
necessarily.
So I do plan to come back andalso have my own practice where
I will hopefully be able to havejust a wellness center with
women and children in general sothat they feel in minorities in

(57:55):
general, feel safe to comethere.
They feel safe talking to me,talking to the physicians that
will be in the practice.
And professionally, I do, I justreally hope to be.
a good doctor in general.
I just want people to see me,see somebody that they can just
trust, depend on because as weknow, minorities don't have a

(58:19):
good relationship with medicinein general.
And I really do want to bridgethat gap.
I want people to be comfortable.
I want people to feel safe.
I want people to get all thehealth care that they need have
access to the health care thatthey need.
Quality health care is key.
So, those

Mike (58:35):
are, those are my goals for the future.
Awesome.

Miracle (58:42):
As far as for me, for my professional goals similar to
Delisha, I want to be a gooddoctor.
I think that that's the questionthat I'm looking forward to.
I know as first year, everybodywants to ask what we want to go
into.
I have no idea.
I have a lot of curiosities.
I'm curious about maternal andwomen's health, but I'm also
fascinated by the immune systemas well.
So, we're excited about that.

(59:02):
See where this path takes me.
But I will say just to go backto the thrive on complex and
just the amazing narrative thatDr.
Lewis just shared about thisentire program.
I know that as a medicalstudent, and as a future
physician, servant leadershipis.

(59:22):
On the forefront of my mind ofhow I want to implement my
service and my practice to thecommunity, and I think that the
HEST program, the Thrive onComplex, you know, what better
way to be fully integrated intothe patient population that
we're going to be seeing than tobe living right in the heart of
where, you know, our patientsare coming from and being able

(59:45):
to see, you know, The thingsthat they deal with firsthand.
And I know that me and Duliciahave grown up in these
environments.
So, you know, this is notnecessarily new to us, but I
think being able to live thereas students, in addition to
acquiring all this new medicalknowledge is just going to
amplify, you know, how we are,our mindsets and how we're going

(01:00:08):
to be approaching treating ourpatients who come from these
spaces.
I, I want to be a goodphysician.
I am ready to get my handsdirty.
I'm ready to get my white coatdirty.
Like, I, I am just ready toserve the community and, you
know, bridge the gap in, inrepair the broken trust that you

(01:00:28):
know, patients who come fromunderrepresented groups may have
when it comes to going to.
Receive health care and I justI'm very much so looking forward
to learning more about how tointegrate health equity
practices into decreasingdisparities into my practice

(01:00:48):
eventually as a physician.
And I also think that thisprogram is going to do a really
good job of exposing us tocommunity engagement, which I
think is extremely importantwhen it comes to building
rapport and connections withpatients in just the community
as a whole.
And I think that that really,really it's.

(01:01:10):
It expands and it changes themindset that the community will
have when it comes to healthcare, and it just puts the
Medical College of Wisconsin,the freighter system as a green
flag in people's minds whenthey'll be able to see students
and professionals from thisspace.
Literally sitting and living inthe community with them.

(01:01:31):
So I'm very much so lookingforward to that.
I am also extremely.
I mean, words can't even capturethe amount of gratitude that I
have with the intention that theheads program is putting into
our will, our personalwellbeing, because I think that
you know, as a society, we arebecoming more conscious of the

(01:01:51):
fact that we cannot pour fromempty cups.
And I think that.
You know, physicians, I don'twant to say medical students yet
because I feel like we haven'tearned this yet, but I know you
guys don't

Chris (01:02:03):
worry about it.
You got,

Miracle (01:02:07):
you know, positions can definitely say that.
We put a lot into this entireprocess of getting to becoming
doctors just to be able to giveit all back and we know that
that can't come from an emptycup.
So I think that the HESS programis extremely intentional with.

Mike (01:02:24):
Yeah.

Miracle (01:02:24):
Feeling that cut back up for us and I can't even
begin.
I hope that just the work thatwe do will show the gratitude
that we have for this.
This is such a blessing.
Yeah.
It's such a honor and aprivilege to be able to be a
medical student for one, andthen be able to be in this
program to intentionally giveback in the ways that we're

(01:02:47):
being allowed to.
Yeah.
It's an honor and a privilege.
And then as far, and I said thatto say when it comes to the
personal goals, I think that allof the wellbeing and mindfulness
that has been integrated intothe program is going to really,
really allow us to learn how tobalance.
And I think that that in itselfis just going to integrate into
how we operate as students andas professionals.

(01:03:10):
So I'm very much so lookingforward to that.

Mike (01:03:12):
Yes.

Chris (01:03:15):
And, you know, for Dr.
Levis, I'll kind of concludewith you just about how folks
will can get in touch with youguys for this program if they
have any interest.
But before we do that fordeletion miracle, is there
anything, let's say, you know,kids that are walking similar
pathways that you walk, is thereany advice that you may have for
them?
You know, they're coming in theschool every day, like you said,

(01:03:37):
in the environments wherethey're not feeling like they're
getting, you know, the, theutmost learning opportunity or
having walking through, youknow, different situations at
home and going through metaldetectors in the morning and
things like that, that we talkedabout.
Is there any pieces of advice,one thing you would tell them to
get to the place that you guysare?

Delicia (01:03:56):
My one piece of advice that I.
Love to give literally everyoneis believe in yourself.
If you have a vision foryourself, don't let anyone talk
you out of it.
Always follow and do what's bestfor you.
Because at the end of the day,you really have you that's,
that's really all you can counton is yourself.

(01:04:18):
And so believing in yourself andtruly don't let anyone tell you
that your vision is too big orthat no, they've never seen
anyone like you do this.
There's a first time foreverything.
And if you feel like you'resupposed to be in a certain
space, you are, you just keepworking towards it.
You, you got it.

(01:04:39):
And just do not let anybody totear you from your dreams, your
aspirations, anything you wantto do in life.

Miracle (01:04:45):
And then my piece of advice I have two pieces of
advice.
One would be you have to makesacrifices.
There has to come, there has tocome a time where you have to
sit down, dedicate and focus.
That is just a key pillar ofwanting to get to a place of
achievement.
I can't say success because Ithink we, we achieve success on

(01:05:07):
a daily basis, but there has tocome a time where you are, you
know, Dedicated to your focus.
And then in addition to that, Iwould say being your most
authentic self, similar to whatthe Alicia said My authenticity
has gotten me farther than Ifeel like any degree I've earned
in

Mike (01:05:26):
this

Miracle (01:05:27):
space and time has ever gotten me.
You know, we, we both wereaccepted into this HES program.
When I interviewed, was Inervous?
Absolutely.
And I actually, I remembergetting off that interview.
And when I learned that theThrive On Complex was Next to
Honey B Sage, which is one of myfavorite tea shops.
I almost screamed on theinterview and I was like, Oh my

(01:05:49):
God, I love you.
When it was over, I was like, Ishould not have said that.
I should not have said that.
But that was just me being myauthentic self.
And I think that that was justreflected upon, you know.
That I am from Milwaukee andthat these are spaces that I
care about, your authenticity isgoing to carry you far.

(01:06:11):
It can be very intimidatingcoming into these spaces and,
and, and again, as anunderrepresented minority, not
seeing a lot of people who looklike you, but just being your
most authentic self, being thereal you is going to carry you
very far and that will keep youfocused.
So, yes, authenticity is key.

Chris (01:06:31):
Man, so many pearls in there.
Thank you guys so much.
And Dr.
Levis, for anyone who isinterested in pursuing or
applying for this program, whereshould they go?
And again, I'll post anything tothe website that you'll talk
about here.

Mike (01:06:46):
Yeah, so the main contact is we have an email.
It's healthequityscholars atmcw.
edu and that will go to theleadership team.
Any questions that any potentialstudents have about the program,
we have, we can share links withthe website, the Medical

(01:07:06):
College's homepage.
There's a Health Equity Scholarspage there that talks about and
now now is featuring our first 5scholars with little bios that,
I think we messed up on 1 ofthem, but we're working on it.

Delicia (01:07:26):
It's fine.
It's fine.
It's updated.
Yes.

Mike (01:07:32):
Little things we so the, the, but email us and that's not
just for potential studentapplicants.
That's also for localbusinesses.
If you want to get involved ifyou have.
A program where you think thatyou might want to integrate with
some of the stuff that we'redoing.
Connect with us if you're alocal leader, and you think that

(01:07:53):
the health equity scholars couldlearn something about some of
the efforts that you're doing.
We, we absolutely want to havemore connections.
Because we know that we haven'texhausted every opportunity.
There's so many assets inMilwaukee, Wisconsin, then it's
impossible to know all of them.
So please email us.

(01:08:13):
We'll, we'll connect with you.
We'll sit down.
We'll talk about what your ideasare.
We'll pitch some of it to ourscholars, right?
Like, they're, you are going tohave to have projects, not
specifically for us, but formedical school, but we want to
make that those connectionseasier.
We want to help you find thepeople that are already working
in your passion spaces.

(01:08:35):
So that you're not starting fromscratch with, with your ideas
and your projects.
So, yeah, I think, I thinkanyone can email us at health
equity scholars at ncw.
edu and we'd be, we wouldwelcome any input.

Chris (01:08:52):
Amazing.
Well, thank you guys so much,Dr.
Leavis.
Officially student Dr.
Simpson and student Dr.
Powell.
Welcome to the crew.
Welcome to the team.
Yeah, exactly.
Applause.
I'm so looking forward toeverything that you guys are
going to accomplish.
Feel free to reach out to me ifyou need any have any questions
or if you guys need anything inthe process.
And like I'm looking forward,you know, if you guys need

(01:09:12):
anything from me I'm lookingforward to help out in any way
that I can.

Mike (01:09:16):
Well, I'm sure, I'm sure they're going to want to shadow
a shift or two.
Oh yeah, sure.
They'll, yes.

Delicia (01:09:27):
Thank you for having us, Chris.
Thank you.
Thank you.

Chris (01:09:30):
Absolutely Gu.
Alright guys, well you guys havea good, happy Juneteenth

Delicia (01:09:34):
Juneteenth.
Thank you.
So I want to thank you forlistening today.
I want to thank Delicia andMIracle for coming out.
Our two new student doctors whoare going to be.
Excellent physicians for thecommunity and in the community.
Hopefully we can continue to.
Support them in their effortsand to retain them here in the

(01:09:57):
city of Milwaukee, because we'regoing to need providers from the
community.
And provide us that want to workin the community to help improve
community health in the longrun.
I want to thank Levis.
For joining us today as well.
Thank him for all of the amazingwork that he is doing in order
to help support this program.

(01:10:17):
I want to thank Dr.
Cassie Ferguson, who is also oneof the leaders in this program
and who reached out to the showin order to give it a platform
and to help.
Give you guys more informationfor the next classes who may
have an interest in joining us.
So thank you to Dr.
Ferguson.

(01:10:39):
I want to thank the medicalcollege of Wisconsin for.
Putting forth efforts like thisin the community to continue to
improve the community access tocare in addition to helping to
support folks within thecommunity.
To become the providers.
That will make our public healthbetter in the long run.

(01:10:59):
So proud to be a medical collegeof Wisconsin graduate.
And as I said, during theinterview, Would love to help
out in any way that I can ingoing forward.
With that being said I hope youwill join us for our next
episode of post check Wisconsin.
We are nearing the end of ourfirst season that went quick.

(01:11:21):
But looking forward to seeingyou for our finale.
We are going to have anothervery special guest on with us,
and then we're going to continueto cover the health topics that
affects you.
And effect your health overall.
So with that being said, Thankyou for joining us again.
As always.
Take care of yourselves.

(01:11:43):
Take care of each other.
And if you need me.
Come and see me.