Inginia Genao, MD, FACP, was warmly welcomed back to Yale School of Medicine as the guest of honor at a lecture given in her name, the inaugural Inginia Genao Lecture in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, presented by General Internal Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine on September 22.
Patrick G. O’Connor, MD, MPH, MACP, Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine and chief of the section of general medicine, praised Genao, who left Yale in the spring of 2022 to become vice dean of Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at Penn State College of Medicine.
O’Connor hired Genao 17 years ago to direct the Adult Medicine Primary Care Center at Yale New Haven Hospital. In November 2016, Genao was then appointed as the inaugural associate chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of Internal Medicine. Genao excelled at both positions, and “revolutionized how we care for patients and educate trainees in primary care along with how we approach diversity, equity and inclusion in our department,” O’Connor said.
“This is the first named lectureship in our section that will be held on an annual basis. I can’t think of another person more deserving of this honor. We have so much to thank you for, Inginia,” O’Connor said.
Aba A. Black, MD, MHS, assistant professor of medicine (General Internal Medicine) and the section’s vice chief of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, introduced guest speaker Nancy Krieger, PhD, professor of social epidemiology and director of the Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender, and Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“It’s so important to have people such as yourself who have stood up for health justice in your discipline and your field to be recognized by your colleagues, and to have it institutionalized in a lecture is a very wonderful thing,” Krieger said. “I’m deeply honored to present the first annual lecture in your name.” Krieger’s lecture, "Grounded in History & Place: Critical Science for Health Justice & The People’s Health,” argued that critical science, and health justice and people’s health must be grounded in history and place.
General Internal Medicine is committed to the core missions of patient care, research, education, and community health from the “generalist” perspective and is one of the 11 sections with the Department of Internal Medicine. To learn more about their mission and work, visit General Internal Medicine.