I really attribute a lot of my success to her believing in me and opening the door to my journey in medicine, as she’ s done for so many students.
How did your being accepted into the CDU / UCLA PRIME program influence your thinking?
Dr. Agonafer Being part of the second cohort of the CDU / UCLA PRIME program, offered me the opportunity to not only learn the foundation of medicine and service to underserved populations, but to offered me so many opportunities to understand the systems and structures in place that create health disparities. With my cohort, who I cherish deeply as my co-conspirators in positive change, we co-founded Happy Feet- a foot health clinic that nearly 13 years later continues to serve individuals experiencing homeless in Greater Los Angeles. I did a Healthcare Administrative Fellowship at Ronald Reagan Medical Center, obtained a Master in Public Health with an emphasis on Health Policy and Management, studied the closure of King- Drew Medical Center, and participated in several quality improvement projects at different health systems. All of these experiences not only influenced my thinking and my passions, but have shaped me as a leader and a change agent.
Give us a brief capsule of life in medical school for you.
Dr. Agonafer Again, as a first-generation Ethiopian-American and college graduate, I was making it up as I went along. The beauty of being a CDU / UCLA PRIME student was the opportunity to learn medicine the melting pot of Los Angeles within diverse healthcare delivery settings. Seeing how different populations were served in an academic center compared to an integrated delivery system or a safety-net system, made me start to ask questions about how do you deliver and / or design quality healthcare to populations that are underserved or made vulnerable?
How did you prepare for the transition out of medical school?
Dr. Agonafer Given everything I learned at CDU / UCLA PRIME, I was well prepared for the transition to residency. Based on my thirdyear clinical rotations, I was drawn to the storytelling and problem solving in the field of internal medicine. My quality improvement work and study of King-Drew Medical center, my fascination with healthcare delivery system design persisted. So after my tour around the country of internal medicine residency programs, I knew that University of Pittsburgh Medical Center( UPMC) was the perfect match.
Every one questioned why I would want to leave Los Angeles and the communities that I came from and worked with. The answer was simple— I was in search of answering how do you deliver and / or design quality healthcare to populations that are underserved or made vulnerable? UPMC is one of the one of few integrated health care delivery systems in this country, similar to Kaiser Permanente, similar to the VA. The difference is that it sits in western Pennsylvania and really has no other competitor while serving Pennyslvanians, West Virginians, as well as folks from Ohio and Michigan. These populations gave me a whole new perspective on service to a different type of underserved community that actually shared many similarities to the urban underserved communities that I was familiar with. Additionally, UPMC is well known for its excellent medical education and research. It was the place where I would develop all of the skills to be an excellent clinician and educator.
Why did you choose the White House Fellows Program?
Dr. Agonafer After residency, I returned home after being selected to be a National Clinician Scholar at UCLA( formerly the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program). My goal was to develop research skills to compliment my clinical expertise so that I could solve the societal problems or the social determinants of health that came to the forefront when my patients saw me in the hospital or clinic. As a result, I had the privilege of developing my expertise in community partnered participatory research with incredible people like Andrea Jones, Felica Jones, Drs. Loretta Jones, Ken Wells, and Arlene Brown. I chose to pursue the White House Fellows program because I wanted build on all of the lessons of my journey in medicine so that I could figure out how to make systemic and structural change.
From my patients in Twin Towers Correctional Facility, to the South LA coalition of Communities for Wellness Equity, and the community-based organizations who participated in our study of the Whole Person Care-Los Angeles Medicaid Waiver— what I know for sure, is that my work will always be centered in love, always be centered in partnership with the community that I’ m serving. There’ s a quote my father used to say to me growing up, and I really thought it was his own quote, but was actually written by an English author, Elizabeth Bibesco. The quote is“ Give without remembering, take without forgetting”. It is a perfect reminder that every interaction is a give and a take, but for me the cherished gifts are the lasting memories of how each interaction has shaped my pursuit for health equity and justice.
And I would remind my younger self of that quote.
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 13