June 8, 2016
On Friday, June 3, the University of Iowa hosted a conference titled “Culturally Responsive Health Care in IOWA 2016.” Attendees met in the UI College of Public Health Building with the aim of addressing issues of racial and ethnic disparities in care, cultural differences in organ donation and transplantation, the challenges of patients with disabilities, biases in the health care setting.
The morning began with an address by Jean Robillard, MD, Vice President for Medical Affairs, about the importance of recognizing the cultural differences throughout the health care field. After announcements by Conference Co-Chair Joel Gordon, MD, from UI’s Department of Internal Medicine, Ramona Rhodes, MD, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center gave the first keynote speech of the day, honing in on end-of-life care in diverse populations and the importance of cultural sensitivity and humility in a clinical setting.