School of Medicine
Brian Cedeño

Mr. Brian Cedeño is a fourth-year medical student who entered the UW School of Medicine in 2020 after earning a bachelor’s degree in social work here at UW.  Brian is the quintessential student the school strives to admit and transition into a physician. 

My colleague and friend, Leo Morales states, “I’ve known Brian since he was an undergraduate at UW and working with his dad in construction. He sought me out because of his interest in Latino health and he wanted to know more about becoming a physician; medical school looked like an unreachable goal.  Brian knows what it’s like to have limited access to medical care, to struggle financially, and to have uncertainty about the future as an immigrant to this country.”

Informed by his lived experience, Brian has maintained a steadfast commitment to helping his community, be it working at Sea Mar Community Health Center as a health educator after completing his undergraduate degree, volunteering at community health fairs during medical school or mentoring the next generation of URM (underrepresented in medicine) medical students. 

Through serving the disenfranchised he came to further appreciate the health disparities in our system and became an agent for change.  This is evidenced by what he wrote in his residency application, “The family physicians at Sea Mar and I continued to help one patient at a time. Together, we wrote letters of support for families affected by our immigration system, connected patients to community resources that addressed social determinants of health, and we engaged in conversations with elected officials to create systemic changes needed to tackle root causes of health disparities.”

In medical school Brian joined the Community Underserved Scholars Program (CUSP Scholars) that focuses on underserved health, and he has continued with his focus on the Latino and disenfranchised communities. He is also a member of the UWSOM Cascade College Leadership Team aimed at improving our medical school’s student support network. Given his commitment to serving communities, it’s not surprising he was chosen as one of the 2022 Husky 100, a prestigious award honoring 100 undergraduate and graduate students (out of 46,000 students) for making a difference on campus, in their communities and for the future. 

In short, Brian Cedeño manifests himself as the type of student we strive to transition into physicians to improve the health of all of us.  He has been a mentor for many of us in supportive ways and in challenging situations.  As my colleagues have repeated to me, it is a privilege to know him.

School of Social Work
Khalfani Mwamba MSW, SUDPII

Khalfani Mwamba is a son, husband, father, grandfather, and brother who weds his consciousness of culture and social justice priority into his Social Work praxis. On the Field Ed. faculty at UW School of Social Work since 2016, he’s proposed the “signature Pedagogy” improvement project of i.Mu.R.g. (pronounced “emerge,” or Interprofessional-Multicultural Reflective Groupwork); its written practice of WOKE Reflection-for-Action, and its (De)Carceral #WELLBEING praxis of Anti-Racist Social Work (DWSW). The latter’s goal intends the dismantling Carcerality, he suggests is the prime performance of contemporary racism. Spanning the School’s program spectrum, he teaches Social Work practice from Bachelor’s seniors to Masters specialists supporting both the Clinical and Community practice Specializations.
As a respected cultural worker, Khalfani is a Co-founder of the NW Kwanzaa Network, and has studied African rhythm systems world-wide, with a focus on South, West, and Oceanic African music’s utility in our lives as vehicles for both selves and communal care. Co-Founder of Mshenga a Babu (Message from the Ancestors) rhythm ensemble which produced the only national, musical centennial celebration of African America’s Anthem: “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” in Y2K, he is also a member of the Zambuko (Bridges) marimba music ensemble.

School of Pharmacy
Jasmine Mangrum, PharmD, MPH

Dr. Mangrum provides critical attention to diversity and related service within the School of Pharmacy and UW, and impactful engagement with communities of need with health care screening, education, and engagement.  Dr. Mangrum is the faculty lead for the UW School of Pharmacy Community Engagement program providing organizational leadership support to our student organizations in their community engagement efforts. She works regularly on the HMC Mobile Health Van as a clinician and preceptor for interprofessional efforts to support tiny house communities and other communities in need of health care services support.  She precepts at the Othello Commons project, an interprofessional UW health sciences community-engaged clinic, and continues to share her effort and leadership on the UWSOP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council, with an interprofessional UW course on race and equity, and is engaged in our recruitment and admissions processes to promote diversity of our efforts and inclusion.

Valley Medical Center
Sarah Davis, MA-MCHS

Sarah Davis is an exceptional equity leader. She exemplifies the growth mindset that is crucial to moving equity work forward, and consistently strives to amplify diverse voices and perspectives. Sarah started her journey as a doula and as a patient service representative before quickly working her way up to a community health facilitator. In that role, she exceled at connecting patients to community services and breaking down barriers that would have otherwise prevented patients from receiving needed care. Her ability to advocate for others was further recognized, earning her a supervisor role. She then decided to go back to school to follow her passion for caring for birthing patients, rooted in her early experiences as a doula, and achieved a master’s degree in Maternal Health Systems. Sarah is now a Patient Relations manager at Valley, and a champion for our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion work. In these roles, she passionately fights and advocates for mistreatment experienced by our Black patients, helping to repair and build back trust within our community. Not only does she advocate for our patients and community, but for our staff, as well. She endeavors to make sure each individual not only feels a sense of belonging, but also like their voices and identities matter. So much of the equity work we do succeeds as a result of her hard work and dedication, and we are so proud to have her advocating for our amazing community.

UW Primary Care
Nkem Akinsoto, MSc.

Nkem Akinsoto, our Assistant Director of Population Health at UWM Primary Care and Population Health has been a champion for equity. She has successfully brought a DEI lens into all of our population health quality programs in both cancer screening and chronic disease management. She has arranged for translation of patient educational materials to better reach patients who are Amharic, Oromo or Somali speaking. She has built a team of navigators who are committed to equitable outreach and navigation . This past year Nkem’s work on the UW Medicine SDOH committee has successfully driven the work forward to build our UWMPC program for screening for and providing resources to our patients with SDOH challenges. Nkem has gone above and beyond in creating a culture of EDI at UW Medicine.