Medical School Dean’s Lecture Series
The Medical School Dean’s Lecture Series is a series of presentations offered to faculty, staff, and students in the Medical School community, as a response to critical issues that are emerging during the pandemic, as well as our efforts to address racial injustice and health disparities within our institution.
The series provides an opportunity for members of our Medical School community to present essential topics and ideas for improving our lives, whether it be within our research, education, clinical work, or service.
Lectures are offered monthly and facilitated by senior leaders of the Medical School. If you have a suggested topic to be considered for future lectures, please submit them here.
May 8, 2024: Building a DEI Office for the Department of Medicine: What We Learned
About the Presentation: Our healthcare system has been described more aptly as a “sick care” system. In this session, Dr. Chomilo will illustrate how the path to healing our healthcare system lies in community and authentic solidarity by reflecting on past and current efforts to address health equity.
Presenter: Nathan Chomilo, MD, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
About Dr. Chomilo:
The work of Nathan T. Chomilo, MD, has centered on the impacts early childhood intervention and healthcare access have on the long-term prospects of our children in addition to how physicians and health systems can address racial and health equity. He is the Medical Director for the State of Minnesota’s Medicaid & MinnesotaCare programs and practices as a general pediatrician with Park Nicollet Health Services and HealthPartners.
Dr. Chomilo also served as the State of Minnesota’s COVID-19 vaccine equity director and as a senior advisor on equity to the Minnesota Commissioner of Health. He is an executive committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Minority Health Equity and Inclusion, serves on the board of Reach Out and Read, and he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
He has been recognized by multiple organizations for his service and achievements:
- The City of Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights as a 2019 History Maker at Home recipient
- The Minnesota Medical Association as the recipient of the 2021 President’s Award
- The Aspen Institute, which selected him to be an Aspen Ascend Fellow in 2022
- The University of Minnesota School of Public Health, whose graduating class selected him to be the invited keynote speaker for their 2022 commencement ceremony.
In 2023 Dr. Chomilo was also selected for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Improving the Health and Wellbeing of Children and Youth through Health Care System Transformation and named to The Lancet’s Commission on Antiracism in Solidarity.