UPENN SOM || Cultural Competency Medical Education Program || Iris Reyes, MD

Iris Reyes, MD

Reyes As Co-Investigator on this project, Dr. Reyes will ensure the integration of the curriculum, and will oversee coordination and the development throughout the undergraduate and graduate medical education curricula. In keeping with her numerous academic and clinical endeavors at the medical and hospital and her expertise in cultural competency education, she is suited for this position. Dr. Reyes is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She is the Associate Medical Director of the Emergency Department of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She has served on the Admissions Committee for the School of Medicine and serves as Ombudsman for the student body. Her extensive experience lecturing both regionally and nationally on cultural competency in healthcare led to her recruitment to assist in the development of the Culture Matters course for first year medical students. In addition to developing the curriculum, she also delivers lectures and runs small group sessions. She is an active participant in medical student education and mentoring. Dr. Reyes serves as faculty preceptor for numerous projects including Medical Spanish for Medical Students, Case Presentation Seminar Series, Bridging the Gaps, and the Penn Med Boriqua/Latino Health Organization. She is the director of Quality Improvement of the Department of Emergency Medicine. As such, she is responsible for the development and implementation of parameters that optimize the delivery of care for patients in the Emergency Department. In addition to bedside teaching and didactic lectures for the house staff and medical students, Dr. Reyes runs a monthly Morbidity and Mortality Conference for the department. She routinely meets with representatives of each clinical department at the hospital in order to improve interdisciplinary communication and patient care. She is the departmental representative to the Clinical Effectiveness and Quality improvement Committee of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Dr. Reyes is a National Hispanic Medical Association Leadership Fellow. She attended the New York University Robert Wagner School for Public Service where she received training on the development of health care policies. She also had the opportunity to meet with congressional leaders and national health policy makers during a weeklong symposium in Washington, DC. She has developed a position paper for the National Hispanic Association addressing the need for federal funding of interpreter services in health care, which will be presented at the annual meeting in March 2004.