For Sha’shonda Revels, MD (2022-23), health equity begins with communication, trust and understanding.

Dr. Revels traces the path to her current position – assistant professor at the UCLA Division of Thoracic Surgery – and her passion for advancing health care equity, to her roots in rural Arkansas.

She saw family members with serious medical problems travel one to two hours to get the care they needed. She once saw her grandmother refuse a critical surgical procedure because she was suspicious of doctors and hospitals, owing to the nation’s dark history of using Black Americans for medical experiments.

“I knew then that I wanted to be not just a physician, but one who works with underserved communities,” she said. “Here we are in 2023 and we have all these advances in health care, but people in these communities still know little to nothing about them.”

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