Sandra Daley changing the culture at UCSD

<figure id="attachment_7137" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-7137" style="width: 215px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="/sites/default/files/2010/07/Daley.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-7137" title="Daley" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Daley-215x300.j…; alt="" width="215" height="300" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Daley-2… 215w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Daley-7… 735w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Daley.j… 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-7137" class="wp-caption-text">Sandra Daley, UCSD’s Chief Diversity Officer. </figcaption></figure>
    The racial disparities in health professions are a growing concern in the medical field across the nation as underrepresented minority populations continue to grow. The lack of health professionals that speak the language and understand the cultural nuances of their non-Caucasian patients creates barriers that can prevent individuals from receiving proper care. While Latino, American Indian and Black populations in the US total about thirty percent, only 8.7 percent of doctors in 2007 were from these groups according to a study in the Journal of Academic Medicine Journal of Academic Medicine.
    Some universities are trying to change that unsettling disparity by recruiting underrepresented minorities for their medical programs, such as at UC San Diego. One individual in particular who has dedicated herself to the cause is Sandra Daley, UCSD’s Chief Diversity Officer.
    Daley was recognized on June 14 for her hard work and dedication to increase diversity in health professions by The California Wellness Foundation who awarded her with a $25,000 Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award. Since 1992, TCWF has awarded more than $735 million in grants. Daley has been working with underrepresented minority students of various ages who are interested in entering health and science professions.
    “This is probably the most important award in my life,” said Daley. “I will always treasure this.”
    Daley and her family came to the United States from Panama when she was 11 years old. Growing up in Los Angeles, Daley’s mother helped her to define a career goal and path to becoming a doctor. In pursuit of her dream, Daley experienced firsthand the challenges facing individuals from minority backgrounds. While attending the UC San Diego School of Medicine, she was one of only nine women in a class of 43.
    “Diversity and its beauty, I’ve lived it,” said Daley.  “A change in the culture takes a phenomenal amount of time.”
    Daley discussed the significance of this award for UCSD.
    “I think this is an opportunity for people to learn that it is not a university isolated in La Jolla; it is a university that is peopled by people like me who are engaged in the community,” said Daley. “I think it’s an opportunity for more students to learn that this is a place for them. —We want them, and we’re ready to help them get here.”
    Daley and her team have established various programs that focus on helping minority students at middle school, high school, community college and undergraduate levels. There are 200 students involved in these programs that were either created by Daley and her team or funded by UCSD. Daley personally works with 80 community college students and 20 to 30 undergraduate students each year to help prepare them for medical school.
    UCSD focuses on assisting two schools in the South Bay area by sending teachers to National City Middle School and Sweetwater Union High School. UCSD’s master teach-er at the middle school instructs science teachers on methods of teaching. She also conducts after-school and weekend programs for students in which critical thinking and scientific methods are emphasized. Middle school students and parents interested in this opportunity should enroll in the Honors Science program.
    Sweetwater Union High School students interested in health care professions should inquire about the Regional Allied Health and Science Initiative (RHASI). These programs help students thrive scholastically by challenging them with rigorous courses while pro-actively preparing them for medical school demands.
    Through these programs and other initiatives, UCSD has made underrepresented minority enrollment a top priority over the past three years. Minority enrollment increased to 20% in 2009. However, this success is set against a backdrop of controversy for UCSD with the recent racial tensions that shook up campus with the “Compton Cookout” scandal that mocked Black History Month in February and enraged thousands of students and faculty members, to say the least.
    “When you have events like that, people who are just on the borderline, they go elsewhere. Witnessing that is painful,” said Daley.
    Daley said that one of the largest difficulties that minority students face in reaching and enrolling at UCSD is primarily held in a mentality that they don’t belong at UCSD.
    “Helping [prospective students] to see that to think that they don’t belong, is to miss an opportunity to get a degree that’s a key that opens doors all over the world, said Daley.” “Because this is one of the premier universities in the world.”
    Prospective students hoping to have successful college careers should be proactive and apply for as many scholarships as possible and find a mentor who can help guide them, said Daley.
    “I tell my students to take an hour or two every week and go shopping on the Internet for scholarships, the same way you go shopping at the mall every week,” said Daley.
    Once students are accepted, Daley strongly recommends using all the resources, such as tutorial programs, that are available to them, she said.
    While UCSD is working to improve diversity in enrollment and in the medical field, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that diversity is reached as health professions continue to grow.
    Continuing to prepare people for entering health professions, advocating and influencing the decisions that are being made currently that will affect future generations, and shutting down the propositions that make the vulnerable more vulnerable are three important steps to ensuring that diversity is met in the health care work force, said Daley.