Harrington Minority Physician Awards Honor Work to Advance Health Equity

Five ChristianaCare physicians were recently honored by the Harrington Trust for their demonstrated commitment to caring for underserved and disadvantaged communities.

The inaugural Harrington Minority Physician Award recognizes ChristianaCare physicians from backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in medicine and who have dedicated their careers to advancing health equity through their clinical work, mentorship and academic service.

The awards were given by the Harrington Community Partnership Trust, established in 2015 from the estate of Charles J. Harrington, Ph.D., the late director emeritus of the ChristianaCare Board of Directors and former trustee.

The Harrington Trust is part of the Institute for Research on Equity and Community Health (iREACH). Applications for the award were reviewed by an independent review committee.

“We are grateful to have these talented physicians serving our communities with the ChristianaCare values of love and excellence,” said Marshala Lee-McCall, M.D., MPH, FAAFP, director of the Harrington Community Partnership Trust.

“Their knowledge of medicine and their own lived experiences as the children of immigrants, living in underserved and under-resourced communities or seeing loved ones with those experiences are vitally important as we work to reduce health disparities and provide culturally sensitive health care to our patients.”

Celebrating the inaugural class

The following physicians were recognized for their dedication to advancing health equity through their clinical work, mentorship and academic service.

Soraya Bascoy, M.D., is an internal medicine physician and pediatrician who works as an overnight hospitalist at Christiana Hospital. She was voted among the top resident educators by third- and fourth-year Kimmel Medical School students who rotated through ChristianaCare.

In her own words: “My impetus to serve underserved and disadvantaged communities comes from my experience as the daughter of immigrants. I am also a firm believer that achieving representation of communities like mine allows for a deeper understanding of the challenges that face members of disadvantaged or underrepresented populations.”

Olivia Castro, D.O., is clinical lead physician at ChristianaCare’s Primary Care at Smyrna practice.

In her own words: “I have always wanted to work in a diverse setting with patients from underserved and disadvantaged backgrounds. As a child, I grew up in Queens, New York, in an underserved area. My mother and grandparents came to America from Haiti under political asylum. I will never forget the risks my family took to come. I can’t imagine how hard it was to pick up and leave their home. I am constantly reminded of this, and it pushes me to strive to be my best and be resilient.”

Henrique Jaime, M.D., is a family medicine physician at ChristianaCare’s Family Medicine Center at Wilmington Primary Care and Su Centro de Salud, and in the community at Westside Family Healthcare. He is a core faculty member for the Department of Family and Community Medicine and clinical instructor of family medicine at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. He also serves as the department lead for undergraduate medical education and is a member of the Diversity Equity, Inclusion and Advocacy committee.

In his own words: “I connect with many of my patients because they remind me of my family. When I see a child struggling to learn English as a second language or with American customs at school, I reassure them that it does get easier.”

Lamar Johnson, M.D., is a primary care physician specializing in internal medicine and pediatrics at Wilmington Hospital. He is a core faculty member leading the development of a health advocacy and equity curriculum for the internal medicine residency program at ChristianaCare. He is also a clinical assistant professor at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and Sidney Kimmel College at Thomas Jefferson University. He was honored as a National Medical Association’s top young physician health care professional under 40.

In his own words: “My desire to care for the underserved and disadvantaged is inherently ingrained in my beliefs and in my blood. My father grew up in Camden, New Jersey, and my mother’s family also has roots there. I have seen firsthand the deterioration of Camden and other cities and neighborhoods I have spent time in. I have learned that the fate of these cities was not incidental or accidental, but in fact, partially due to historic disinvestment and structural racism. Because of these obstacles, I have always strived to find even small ways to make a positive change in the world around me. My parents taught me the importance of serving the community. And I made it a personal mission to continue to give back during the after my medical education and residency training.”

Bridget Peters, D.O., Ph.D., is a family medicine physician who works at the Family Medicine Center at Wilmington Primary Care. She is a core faculty member in the Department of Family Community Medicine and a clinical instructor of family medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.

In her own words: “The act of service to the underserved and disadvantaged communities, whether it be rural or urban settings, is paramount to the longevity of our population as a whole. Typically, those who are defined within these groups are not only disadvantaged medically, but educationally and financially. When I serve to meet their medical needs, I offer one piece of the puzzle to aid in the overall well-being. My motivation is to provide continuous support to the individual and their families so that not only chronic diseases are managed, but also social determinants of health, such as their living environments, places of worship and educational entities. I am driven to create a more livable community.”

A workforce representing the communities it serves

As part of the Harrington Physician award, recipients receive a one-time $100,000 grant that is disbursed over a five-year service term. Physicians are required to complete an annual career development plan with their department chair.

The funding is intended to recognize the service and commitment of these recognized physicians by assisting them with their student loan debt, which been identified nationally as an issue affecting the recruitment and retention of minority physicians and faculty.

The Harrington Minority Physician Awards are part of ChristianaCare’s ongoing efforts to address health disparities, improve cultural competency and increase representation of underrepresented physicians and scientists in faculty positions at ChristianaCare, Lee-McCall said.

Additional programs offered by the Harrington Trust include mentorship for high school and college students, medical school admissions test preparation for students from underrepresented backgrounds and a faculty development program for early-career physicians. The goal is to develop a health care workforce that represents the communities it serves.

“We’re working to not only increase the diversity of physicians at ChristianaCare, but the diversity of all physicians in medicine,” Lee-McCall said.