Breakthrough Thinking series kicks off Oct. 29

UNMC will kick off this season’s Breakthrough Thinking Conference Series Oct. 29 with online presentations focused on diversity and inclusion.

The annual, thought-provoking series is open to all UNMC faculty, staff and students.

The Oct. 29 event will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CT and feature:

• Siobhan Wescott, MD, director of American Indian health in the UNMC College of Public Health and inaugural holder of the Dr. Susan and Susette (Inshata Theumba) LaFlesche Professorship in Public Health, discussing "Filling the Void of What Terms to Use for a Population: Native Americans as an Example."
• Jane Jih, MD, an internist and investigator in the division of general internal medicine at the University of California San Francisco, where she is associate professor of medicine, discussing the "Absence of Evidence Is Not Evidence of Absence: Asian American Health and Anti-Asian Racism."

An Alaskan Athabascan, Dr. Wescott joined UNMC this past summer from the University of North Dakota, where she served as co-director of the 48-year-old Indians Into Medicine Program. She earned a bachelor’s degree in government at Dartmouth College, a master's degree in public health at the University of California and a medical degree at Harvard Medical School. She is a staunch advocate for Alaskan Natives and American Indians, especially when it comes to issues of health equity and educating the next generation. She also has cultivated a nationally recognized voice, especially through her work with the American Medical Association.

Dr. Jih’s research aims to reduce health disparities and promote health equity among multiethnic and linguistically diverse adults by developing and evaluating innovative, patient-centered interventions in primary care. She serves as co-director of the Multiethnic Health Equity Research Center and research director of the Asian American Research Center on Health. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology, master’s in epidemiology and medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Ji’s Breakthrough Thinking collaboration is in conjunction with support from UNMC’s Asian American Pacific Islander Student Group and the Office of Inclusion.

Join the webinar here.