Published: April 6, 2021
Sumam Abraham, MD, has served as clinical sciences faculty at the Kaiser Permanente’s School of Medicine in Pasadena, Calif. since its inception. 2020 was a landmark year for deepening our commitment to lifelong learning and education. Internally, we launched WPMG University for professional development along three distinct pathways. To better reach and teach tomorrow’s class of physicians, Kaiser Permanente recently opened the Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, California.
2020 was a landmark year for deepening our commitment to lifelong learning and education. Internally, we launched WPMG University for professional development along three distinct pathways. To better reach and teach tomorrow’s class of physicians, Kaiser Permanente recently opened the Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, California.
We sat down with Sumam Abraham, MD, a family medicine physician in Renton, to speak about her passion for teaching, achieving equity--and how her role as clinical sciences faculty at the new Kaiser Permanente medical school advances both those pursuits.
When did you first get involved with the Kaiser Permanente’s School of Medicine?
I’m proud to say my participation with the medical school can be traced back to its roots, when I joined Kaiser Permanente’s committee to develop the school from the ground up in 2016. I’d heard the rumors even earlier, nearly almost a decade ago, that Kaiser Permanente had the idea to create a unique medical school focused on providing opportunity to students from diverse backgrounds. I’d always had my fingers crossed that it would come into existence and that I could play a role. Currently, I serve on the clinical sciences faculty where I’ve had the pleasure of supporting academic mentorship and curriculum.
Why did you choose to join the School of Medicine?
I’ve taught and served as a mentor throughout my medical career. So, when former WPMG president Dr. Steve Tarnoff presented this opportunity to me I was immediately interested.
One key difference about the School of Medicine is that equity, inclusion, and diversity are woven into all aspects of the school’s design. This mindset is shared by the faculty; though we are an incredibly diverse group, we are all unified in by our passion to achieve health equity and eliminate health disparities in this country. The unique mission of the school is also expressed in the selection of the student body, providing an opportunity to those who might otherwise get overlooked.
All this adds up to achieving some real and lasting changes to the makeup of the medical landscape and profession.
Why is this important?
Historically speaking, acceptance to medical schools has been primarily reserved for the “elite,” which perpetuates a student body lacking in diversity. At the School of Medicine, we believe it’s important to progress beyond this because studies show that patients frequently like to see clinicians who look like they do. Unfortunately, for our patients of color, our current national clinician workforce is unable to consistently meet this need or preference. When you consider that health disparities are consistently higher among patients of color—we’re seeing this with COVID-19 infection and mortality rates, for example—the imperative to ensure equitable care is that much more urgent.
In addition, the awakening of our country to social injustice this year has shown a bright light on the many areas in our country that need reform, including health care. I’m proud to work in an organization like Kaiser Permanente that seeks to take a leadership position in enacting change and creating greater access to high quality care for everyone. The School of Medicine is a visionary and much needed example of this.
Looking ahead, how do you think WPMG and our patients will benefit from the school?
I am hopeful that Washington continues to actively recruit clinicians from diverse backgrounds. Part of delivering the best care is to have clinician options to match patient demographics. I believe that future graduating classes from the School of Medicine will provide the best care because they are learning that each patient is unique and deserves the highest quality of care.