Cultural Issues in Healthcare: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities

Renay Scales, (Formerly employed by University of Kentucky College of Medicine as: ), Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Associate Professor in Family and Community Medicine, University of Kentucky College of Medicine Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Dr. Renay Scales has served on three (3) presidential teams and in other leadership capacity in corporate, healthcare and higher education organizations. Her leadership responsibilities have included talent acquisition and management relations, faculty relations and development and DEI. She has also taught or trained undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students and medical students and residents on organizational and practice behavior, leadership, and health equity related competencies. Named a national clinical faculty member in family medicine by the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME), she writes and reviews all levels of board exam questions in ethics and jurisprudence. Scales had oversight of a global health program between a former U.S. initiative and the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa.

Dr. Scales' work has been acknowledged through a best practice award by OCR, MLK Civil Leadership Awards, a Barrier Breaker Award, and recently, was acknowledged by the National Accrediting Commission for Diversity and Inclusion as Professional of the Month during Women's History Month. She is a former member of the National Advisory Council for the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) and former board member of the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI). Her role as a leadership consultant includes work with more than 80 academic schools, colleges and universities. Scales' research and scholarship primarily addresses health equity with a focus on cultural traumas. She has widely presented her research and praxis, and was recently the keynote for the International Association of Medical and Science Education's annual conference.

Asia McCleary-Gaddy, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Texas, USA

Dr. Asia McCleary-Gaddy serves as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences for McGovern Medical School. Asia serves the UTHealth community through design and implementation of policies and procedures that support diversity and inclusion, recruitment and retention of URM faculty and students, program evaluation and data analysis for students, residents, and faculty members. Dedicated to furthering the empirical research published on diversity and health, she has published in leading journals including Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Health Psychology, and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Previously, Dr. McCleary-Gaddy served asthe inaugural Director of Diversity and Equity for Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine and helped launch the institution's high school pipeline/pathway programs. Prior to that role, she served as a Data Analyst for the Vermont Department of Health in Burlington, VT where she analyzed data for the Healthy People 2020 initiative. Dr. McCleary-Gaddy earned a PhD in Experimental Social Psychology. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a distinction in Research and Creative Works from Rice University.