by Tavia Smith
Stephanie Spottswood, M.D., MSPH, professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Pediatrics and associate vice chair for Diversity, has been named the new chair of the Office of Inclusion and Health Equity (OIHE) Advisory Board at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
“I am honored and thrilled to serve in this position. As health care professionals, we have cross-cultural challenges as we treat patients and families with diverse values, beliefs and behaviors. It is important that we tailor health care delivery to meet these social, cultural and linguistic needs of our patients,” Spottswood said.
“It is my distinct hope that the cultural awareness education and training currently provided at Children’s Hospital will undergo expansion to the greater Vanderbilt University Medical Center community. Such training should build a framework of knowledge and skills for delivering culturally competent, quality health care to diverse pediatric and adult populations within the Vanderbilt medical system.”
The OIHE was established in December 2011 and works with hospital leadership to foster a culture that embraces and promotes diversity, inclusion and respect, and strives to meet the needs of the patient population’s rich array of cultures. The office is currently engaged in several local and national projects to fulfill its four major initiatives in the areas of education and training, data and cross-cultural communication improvement, outreach and research.
Spottswood joined Vanderbilt 10 years ago, and has served as chief of Pediatric Nuclear Medicine since 2005 and associate vice chair for Diversity since 2013. She has a focused area of academic and clinical interest in the diagnosis of pediatric gastrointestinal disorders using nuclear medicine imaging techniques.
