Policy + Advocacy Plans

Please join the next NJC Policy and Advocacy committee meeting on October 9th 4:30-5:30pm EST. Join Dr. Levi Funches Jr., Dr. Valencia Walker, Dr Sarah Swenson, and Dr. Kshama Shah and the rest of the NJC Policy and Advocacy team to talk about their initiatives and goals for the year! Consider joining whether you are a novice in policy and advocacy work or an accomplished seasoned advocate. We look forward to engaging with you to leverage our voices locally and nationally.

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Mentorship Moments

The NJC Med Education & Workforce Diversity Subcommittee hosted a Mentorship Speaker Series Friday, September 20th on “Navigating Careers and Mentorship in Neonatal & Pediatric Health Equity” featuring Drs. Jennifer Joyner DNP APRN CPNP-AC, Elizabeth Bonachea MD, and Valencia Walker MD MPH. We had 24 attendees log in to the event. We'll recap some highlights from their talk here.

Dr. Walker shared that she her entry into academic neonatal health equity work "has been a journey" as she "came to this work outside of neonatology, and realized its important to bring all of me to the work." Beyond her profound wisdom, she also connected us to a poem that inspires her "A litany for survival" by Audre Lorde. Dr Joyner suggested "finding a person or people you can trust and admire is essential to navigating each step in your health equity journey." When looking for this person, Dr. Joyner reminded us to "diversify outside of your field or outside of medicine" as she reflected about a mentor she has within IT. Dr. Bonachea suggested to bring "clarity in an ask to your mentor or sponsor" to facilitate a strong, mutually beneficial relationship.

Thank you to these incredible leaders on your open discussion of what can feel at times as an incredibly nebulous task.

NJC Kudos

We want to highlight the incredible work of some of our NJC leaders doing the work and spreading the word for neonatal health equity. Congratulations to our senior advisor Kimberly Novod, chair Dr. Kayla Karvonen, and research subcommittee senior lead Dr. Henry Lee on their outstanding presentations at the Delphi Conference in September. Congratulations to our Dr. Melanie Gao, our operations specialist, on winning the Marshall Klaus Research award announced recently!

Health Equity Highlights - October

Find out about other non-NJC health equity focused events below

Upcoming conference sponsored by the Institute of Equity and Justice in Health Sciences Education at the Icahn School of Medicine entitled, “Changing Norms: Uplifting Anti-Racist Work to Transform the Landscape of Medical Education.” It’s a free virtual conference scheduled from October 28-30th. Register here. Feel free to pass along to your friends and colleagues as well.
Get out the Vote, early or on election day November 5th! Consider hosting a NICU voter registration drive for your department and for your patients! Each election, make NICU voices matter. Vot-ER, a non-partisan organization dedicated to registering voters within healthcare spaces, has many helpful resources to start a voter registration drive in a hospital or community center setting.

Committee Corner

Advocacy + Policy

This committee is led by new junior leaders Drs. Kshama Shah and Sarah Swenson, new senior leader Dr. Levi Funches, and returning senior leader Dr. Valencia Walker. Stay tuned for their next event!

Get connected to their listserv with the interest button below.

Med Ed + Workforce Diversity

This committee is led by new junior leaders Drs. Kaquanta Barlow and Shenell Reynolds, our previous junior leading serving new senior role Dr. Uche Anani, and returning senior leader Dr. Elizabeth Bonachea.

Sign-up to join the subcommittee with the link below.

Quality Improvement

This committee is led by junior leaders Drs. Gaby Cordova Ramos, Nick Heitkamp, and Michelle-Marie Pena (newly transitioned from the Med Ed & Workforce Diversity subcommittee), and lead by senior leaders Drs. Roopali Bapat and Susan Hwang.

If you're interested in joining this subcommittee, indicate your interest via the button below.

Research

This committee is led by junior leaders Drs. Alejandra Barrero-Castillero and Ashlee Vance, and senior leaders Drs. Ashwini Lakshmanan and Henry Lee.

Present at WIP

Interested in joining the NJC general body or a committee? Connect here to join our listserv and upcoming events!

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Neonatal Justice Collaborative

Promoting neonatal equity & justice through collaboration