I was honored to speak last week at the Fenwick Symposium for Child Health Equity at Boston Children's Hospital, an event that brought together leaders in pediatric research, clinical care, and policy who share a commitment to ensuring every child has an opportunity to live a healthy life.
In my keynote address, I shared thoughts on how organizations can embed health equity into research agendas, operational priorities, and community partnerships. I believe meaningful progress happens when we integrate equity into the fabric of how we discover, design, and deliver care. And it's never more important than when children's health and wellbeing is at stake.
I'm so inspired to see the momentum building across academic medicine in this area. As challenges in child health continue to evolve - especially amid growing awareness of social determinants of health - collaborative efforts like this symposium are more important than ever.
My sincere thanks to the Fenwick Institute team (including Dr. Lois Lee, symposium organizer at Boston Children's, and Dr. Diana Montoya-Williams, program committee member at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) as well as all the researchers, clinicians, and advocates who are working every day to advance health equity for kids.
How is your institution - whether in research, care delivery, or policy - making equity a measurable outcome in every aspect of child health? I'd love to hear your examples or ideas, and look forward to continued conversations around health equity at #AAMC25.
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Elena Fuentes-Afflick
Chief Scientific Officer
Association of American Medical Colleges
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