Inclusive Excellence in Emergency Medicine

Since its inception in 2019, the Inclusive Excellence Committee has become a cornerstone of Kaiser Permanente San Diego’s Emergency Medicine Department. The founding residents were Drs. Charles Grant III, Chad Correa, and Maria De Lourdes Sturchler. As an intern, Dr. Charles Grant III had a desire to further inclusive recruitment efforts as well as nurture cultural competency education implemented throughout the formal curriculum. With support from residency leadership and faculty advisors, the committee formalized its mission and partnered with the KP Family Medicine Residency Program and Kaiser Permanente’s regional initiatives focused on inclusion and belonging.

Our Commitment

At Kaiser Permanente, we believe that service, collaboration, respect, and belonging make us stronger. We value the unique perspectives and experiences that enrich our teams and enhance patient care. Inclusive excellence and culturally responsive care are defining principles of our past, present, and future.

Our committee is dedicated to advancing:

• Health Equity in Care Delivery – Ensuring every patient receives compassionate, culturally competent care tailored to their needs.

• Inclusive Recruitment – Building a physician workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

• Education and Advocacy – Integrating health equity, cultural humility, and inclusive practices into emergency medicine training.

• Community Service – Engaging in outreach and service initiatives that improve access and outcomes for marginalized populations.

Opportunities for Medical Students

We offer scholarships and programs designed to support students who share our commitment to health equity and inclusive care:

• EMpowerED Scholarship – Our residency-specific scholarship provides $1,000 toward expenses, mentorship, and a rotation opportunity at KP San Diego Emergency Medicine Residency Program.

• Oliver Goldsmith, M.D. Scholarship – A regional program offering $5,000, mentorship from a KP clinician, and a clinical rotation at a Kaiser Permanente facility.

Matriculating residents can take advantage of the KP Southern California Global Health Program. It is a resident scholarship that aims to support your passion for underserved care whether locally or internationally.

KPEM Inclusive Excellence Committee Leadership

Current DEI Committee Leadership: Co-Chairs

• Edgar Vega, MD

• Kevin Cabrera, DO

Previous Committee Leadership

• 2024/2025: Co-Chairs: Edgar Vega, MD and Kevin Cabrera, DO

• 2023/2024: Co-Chairs: Arpita Gupta MD and Marlene Alfaro, MD

• 2022/2023: Chair: Jawad Arshad MD, Co-Chair - Marlene Alfaro, MD

• 2021/2022 Chair: Kayla Conover, MD

• 2018-2021: Charles Grant III, MD (Founding Resident and Committee Chair)

Faculty Sponsors

• Quetzalsol “Sol” Chacón-López, MD, MPH, KPEM Faculty Director of D&I

• Chad Correa, MD, Faculty Advisor

• Matthew Silver, MD, Program Director

Resident Diversity Initiatives, Volunteerism, and Community Outreach

• “Doc-4-A-Day, KP Emergency Medicine Academy ”. Chula Vista middle school students are hosted for a hands-on event based out of our simulation lab. Activities are organized by our Toxicology, Ultrasound, and Sim Faculty.

  • 2026 event organizer: Edgar Vega, MD

  • 2025 event organizer: Edgar Vega, MD

  • 2024 event organizer: Marlene Alfaro, MD

  • 2023 event organizer / founder: Kimberly Allen, MD

• EMpowerED Scholarship. Cofounded by Kevin Cabrera DO and Edgar Vega MD (2024).  The scholarship aims to support and promote inclusive excellence for all who aspire to join the field of Emergency Medicine. Our goal is to support medical students who share our dedication to compassionate, culturally responsive care for the diverse communities we serve.

• Legislative Advocacy Panel. Featuring Paul Hegyi (CEO of the San Diego County Medical Society), Dr. Tanya Spirtos (California Medical Association- President), and Dr. Will Tseng (KP San Diego Government Relations Lead), Alexandra Kursinskis MD (2023/2024 Kaiser Permanente Southern California Government Relations Resident Leader, 2023/2024 San Diego County Medical Society Resident Director)

• Unity for Orphans Tijuana Toy Drive: Led by Marlene Alfaro MD 2023/2022. 

• 2022 Podcast Book Club Chat “The 1619 Project.”. Arpita Gupta MD and Marlene Alfaro MD

• 2021 Bonfire Book Club Chat. Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do. -Kayla Conover MD

• Student National Medical Association (SNMA) National Leadership Institute at KP San Diego- January 2020. Charles G. Grant III MD

Partnering with SNMA to host and coordinate a quarterly Leadership Institute at KP San Diego for approximately 80-100 students. Meeting are held in various parts of the nation focused on training national physician leaders of tomorrow in multiple areas such as advocacy, leadership skills, and effective communication.

• Kaiser Permanente Women in Medicine Board Member and Conference Organizer- 2019. Maria De Lourdes Sturchler MD (Chief Resident)

KP WIM in an organization that aspires to empower women as physicians and men as their allies, to provide education surrounding relevant issues of WIM, and to promote networking opportunities and skill development events to facilitate the leadership promotion of WIM.

Health Disparities Lecture Series

founded by the 2020 DEI Committee

Institute a wide range of monthly, short, interactive lectures touching on topics such as health disparities, implicit bias, non traditional healthcare and gender and leadership. Topics have included:

• “Why We Protest?” - Edgar Vega MD

• “Si se puede!- Presentation on Latino Health.” - Marlene Alfaro MD, 2024 Senior Grand Rounds presentation

• “2023 LMSA National Conference”- Recruitment trip update and a discussion regarding underrepresented minorities in medicine. - Drs. Kevin Cabrera and Edgar Vega

• “Shared Identities- How do you identify?” - Arpita Gupta MD

• “Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Medicine: Piloting a Doc-4-A-Day program and Lessons Learned.” - Kim Allen MD

• “Microaggressions- Subtle interactions with Huge Effects.” Quetzalsol F. Chacon-Lopez MD, MPH

• “The Do’s and Don’ts of Treating Muslim Patients.” Sari Lahham MD

• “Black Health Disparities” Sari Lahham MD

• "Equity, Inclusion and Diversity in Medicine"- Lisa Moreno Walton MD, President of AAEM

• "Minority Health Disparities"- Charles Grant III MD, Senior Grand Rounds presentation

• “Understanding the Rise in Anti-Asian Violence and Ways to be an Effective Advocate”- Michael Nguyen JD

• “Racism in Medicine”- Charles Grant III MD

• "Mass Incarceration and Its Impact on Health Equity in the US"- Olga Diaz MD Ultrasound Fellow

• "Substance Legislation and Racism"- Jeff Lapoint MD

• "Toxicology of Riot Control Agents"- Jeff Lapoint MD

• “Covid's Magnifying Effect On Health Disparities” - Quetzalsol F. Chacon-Lopez MD, MPH

• "Caring for Transgender Patients in the ED"- Kayla Conover MD

• “Latino Patients in the ED”- Chad Correa MD

• “Implicit Bias in Healthcare”- Maria De Lourdes Sturchler MD

4) Faculty/Resident Projects

• Examining the Relationship Between Early Positive Exposure and Underrepresented Minority (URM) Adolescent Attitudes Towards Medicine- 2022-2023. Kimberly Allen MD

  A group of local 7th grade students are invited to SIM lab for a fun day of empowering, hands-on medical learning taught by faculty and residents. Using principles of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), two clinically proven variables for improving URM attitudes and participation in the pre-medical pipeline are utilized: 1) early positive exposure to the field of medicine (2) adult encouragement, in hopes of increasing students’ self-perceived potential of entering the medical field.

• Applicant Recruitment Project- Quetzalsol F. Chacon-Lopez MD, MPH & Jenny Chua-Tuan MD, MBA

  • In conjunction with the core resident faculty and applicant interviewers, we aim to provide a more diverse voice in the recruitment and retention strategy for our program. Our overarching goal is to recruit and train emergency medicine residents who come from diverse backgrounds.

• Kaiser Permanente's Hippocrates Circle Program- Edward Serna MD

  • Program providing 7th and 8th graders from Southern Californian under-represented communities and diverse backgrounds with awareness that a career as a physician is possible.