A Diversity Leadership Program Takes Neurologists to Unexpected Places
Neurology Today (10/05/23) Butcher, Lola
Neurologists who participated in the American Academy of Neurology's (AAN) Diversity Leadership Program (DLP) said the training positively affected their careers and helped them develop a personal and professional development plan. The nine-month program is designed "to foster people who have a desire and a passion for change by giving them the skill set on how to push for change in their own institutions, regionally, statewide or, for some people, even nationally," said AAN Board member Jose H. Posas, MD, FAAN. DLP participants engage one-on-one with a professional coach, are provided with mentors and work on a group assignment focused on a strategic AAN issue. Stanford Medicine neurointensivist Lucia Rivera-Lara, MD, MPH, said the program offered her the first opportunity for in-depth self-analysis since starting her career path. Yale School of Medicine professor Vanessa Cooper, MD, credited presenting the group project to the AAN Board as a career-enhancing opportunity in itself. "That helped us with developing presentation skills, networking and ultimately building long-lasting collegial relationships with these individuals who are at the top of our field," she noted. Baylor College of Medicine professor Nora Vanegas-Arroyave, MD, also lauded the AAN Board and leadership, which "went above and beyond to help us." Sasha Alick-Lindstrom, MD, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said DLP participants shared their biographical backgrounds with each other, which highlighted the group's diversity. Rivera-Lara said this particularly helped international medical graduates overcome imposter syndrome. The DLP validated and helped address professional challenges encountered by learners like Vanegas-Arroyave, while Clarimar Borrero-Mejias, MD, at the Johns Hopkins All Children's Institute for Brain Protection Sciences, felt empowered by the sense of having surmounted personal and professional obstacles. Posas said the DLP inspired him to rethink leadership barriers "to focus on the quality of the work I'm doing, on building interpersonal connections and on fostering change from within." Participants said their self-reflection within DLP influenced decisions ranging from making patient advocacy a professional priority to cultivating strategic communication skills to achieving better work-life balance. They advised aspiring DLP enrollees to be prepared to commit to the work, know their reasons for participating, and secure departmental backing.
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