The Clinical Problem Solvers

CPSolvers: Antiracism in Medicine Series

Episode 29 – Clinician Burnout, Racial Health Inequities, and Reincorporating Rest into the Profession

Show Notes by Asya Pitre

October 29, 2025

Summary: In this episode, hosts Ashley Cooper and Sud Krishnamurthy sit down with Dr. Kriti Prasad and Dr. Khaalisha Ajala to talk about the heavy toll of clinician burnout, how it intersects with racial inequities in healthcare, and why reclaiming rest needs to be treated as both a personal and systemic priority. Together, they explore how exhaustion, moral injury, and structural racism are intertwined, and how these forces not only affect providers but also shape patient outcomes. The conversation explores both big-picture policy ideas and practical steps for everyday advocacy and healing.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introductions

2:30 Origin Stories

9:07 Research Study of Burnout in Healthcare Workers

14:05 Advocating for and Humanizing Patients

22:07 COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Clinician Burnout  

28:19 Research: The Blueprint for Overcoming Burnout Exists

34:00 Policies to Ameliorate Clinician Burnout

39:08 Destigmatizing Mental Health Among Healthcare Workers

48:00 Nonprofit organization: A Tribe Called Health

56:00 Closing Remarks 

Credits

• Written and produced by: Ashley Cooper, Sudarshan Krishnamurthy, and Team
• Hosts: Ashley Cooper and Sudarshan Krishnamurthy
• Infographic and Audio Edits: Ashley Cooper
• Show Notes: Asya Pitre
• Guest: Dr. Kriti Prasad & Dr. Khaalisha Ajala

Guest Biographies:

• Dr. Kriti Prasad is an Internal Medicine and Primary Care Resident at Boston Medical Center and volunteer faculty at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Her research focuses on clinician stress and burnout, antiracism in medical education, and trauma-responsive care. She hopes to practice as a primary care and palliative care physician in safety-net settings.

• Dr. Khaalisha Ajala is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Emory University and Assistant Site Director of Education for Hospital Medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital. A leader in DEI initiatives, she has built mentorship programs for underrepresented students, is a global health educator, and is founder of A Tribe Called Health, a nonprofit blending hip-hop culture with health advocacy.

Episode Takeaways

• Dr. Prasad and Dr. Ajala share how their personal journeys, families, and communities drew them into medicine and continue to inspire their advocacy.

• Dr. Prasad’s research reveals that nearly half of healthcare workers experienced burnout during the pandemic, with women, Black, and Latinx clinicians reporting higher rates of burnout. Traditional measures of burnout may not capture the unique challenges faced by minoritized providers.
• Both guests highlight how implicit bias can show up when clinicians are stretched thin, and how advocacy at the bedside and through our notes can counteract harm. Exhaustion and moral injury ripple outward, influencing not just clinician well-being but also patient care and health inequities.
• The COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep issues in our healthcare system and left lasting trauma for providers. 

• Dr. Ajala shares how her nonprofit, A Tribe Called Health, reflects the intersection of her passions for hip-hop and medicine.

• From reducing administrative burdens and strengthening resident unions to normalizing mental health support, the guests underscore the importance of systemic change. On a more personal level, they emphasize building community, incorporating wellness into training, and helping clinicians reconnect with the “North Star” that first called them to medicine. Honoring your humanity is a form of advocacy for yourself and your patients.

References

1. Ajala, K. (2022, September 1). The Blueprint for Overcoming Burnout Exists. The Hospitalist, Society of Hospital Medicine. https://www.the-hospitalist.org/hospitalist/article/33039/practice-management/the-blueprint-for-overcoming-burnout-exists/
2. Lawrence, J. A., Davis, B. A., Corbette, T., Hill, E. V., Williams, D. R., & Reede, J. Y. (2021). Racial/Ethnic Differences in Burnout: A Systematic Review. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 9(1), 257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00950-0
3. Khullar, D., Prasad, K., Neprash, H., Poplau, S., Brown, R. L., Williams, E. S., Audi, C., & Linzer, M. (2022). Factors associated with patient trust in their clinicians: Results from the healthy work place study. Health Care Management Review, 47(4), 289–296. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35170482/ 
4. LeClaire, M. M., Poplau, S., Prasad, K., Audi, C., Freese, R., & Linzer, M. (2019). Low ICU burnout in a safety net hospital. Critical Care Explorations, 1(5), e0014. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6927682/ 
5. Prasad, K., McLoughlin, C., Stillman, M., Poplau, S., Goelz, E., Taylor, S., Nankivil, N., Brown, R., Linzer, M., Cappelucci, K., Barbouche, M., & Sinsky, C. A. (2021). Prevalence and correlates of stress and burnout among U.S. healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national cross-sectional survey study. eClinicalMedicine, 35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100879
6. Prasad, K., Poplau, S., Brown, R., Yale, S., Grossman, E., Varkey, A. B., Williams, E., Neprash, H., Linzer, M., & for the Healthy Work Place (HWP) Investigators. (2020). Time Pressure During Primary Care Office Visits: A Prospective Evaluation of Data from the Healthy Work Place Study. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(2), 465–472. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05343-6
7. Prasad, K., & Prasad, P. (2023). Affective Solidarity and Trauma-Informed Possibilities: A Comparative Analysis of the Classroom and the Clinic 1. In Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in Higher Education (pp. 69–88). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003260776-7/affective-solidarity-trauma-informed-possibilities-kriti-prasad-pritha-prasad

Disclosures 

The hosts and guests report no relevant financial disclosures.

Citation

Ajala K, Prasad K, Krishnamurthy S, Cooper A, Pitre A, “Episode 29: Clinician Burnout, Racial Health Inequities, and Reincorporating Rest into the Profession” The Clinical Problem Solvers Podcast – Antiracism in Medicine Series. https://clinicalproblemsolving.com/antiracism-in-medicine/. October 29, 2025.

Show Transcript

Maddy presents a fascinating case of dyspnea with diffuse ground-glass opacities. Tune in as Mark, Youssef, and Noah work through the diagnostic puzzle.

GGOs Schema

Bird + Lung Ddx

References:

NEJM CPC: Hypoxemia at the Bedside — https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcpc2004991

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In this new episode, Rabih shares an important case with Debora, Mark, and Noah. We invite you to listen and join in on their journey as they work together to discover the final diagnosis.

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Episode description

RR discuss a case of AKI

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Kaylin and Sharmin were joined by UCLA Cardiology fellows, Drs. Rachel Ohman and Angela Duvalyan, to discuss a case of a 49 year old woman with acute chest pain.

Angela Duvalyan, MD is a second year Cardiology Fellow at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her clinical interests include interventional cardiology, medical education, and clinical trials. Dr. Duvalyan earned her M.D. from Keck School of Medicine of USC and completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Chief Residency at UTSW. In her spare time, she loves taking her puppy on hikes, hosting charcuterie nights, or unwinding at a fitness class.

Rachel Ohman, MD is an ocean lover from San Diego who grew interested in medicine while an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. She explored the integration of research, clinical care, and health disparities during a two-year-long research fellowship at the NIH. She then returned home to California for medical school and residency training at UCLA, after which she nurtured her passion for medical education as a chief resident. She is now a third-year cardiology fellow at UCLA and remains particularly interested in cardio-oncology, heart failure, health equity, and clinical reasoning. Outside of the hospital, she enjoys hiking and spending time at the beach with her husband, toddler daughter, and Rhodesian Ridgeback.

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Anna  Jarvis, MD

MFM Fellow – at University of Pennsylvania

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CPSolvers: Anti-Racism in Medicine Series

Episode 25 – Immigrant and Refugee Health: Live from SGIM 2025: Best of Antiracism Research at the Society of General Internal Medicine’s Annual Meeting

Show Notes by Alec J. Calac

September 15, 2025

Summary: This episode highlights a selection of antiracism research presentations at a live recording of the podcast at the 2025 Society for General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Annual Meeting. This year’s episode, our fifth conducted at SGIM, is focused on immigrant and refugee health. During this episode, we speak with experts Dr. Harita Shah, an internal medicine/pediatrics specialist at the University of Chicago who has conducted extensive community-engaged participatory research, Dr. Masha Slavin, an internist and Director of Primary Care for Bellevue’s Program for Survivors of Torture, and Dr. Sarah Kimball, an Associate Professor at Boston University Chobonian and Avedisian School of Medicine and Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Health Center (IRHC) at Boston Medical Center. This episode is hosted by Asya Pitre and Ashley Cooper. The show notes for this episode were written by Alec Calac.

Important Note: This episode represents the views of the podcast participants and is not necessarily representative of the institutions at which they work and practice.

Episode Learning Objectives

After listening to this episode, learners will be able to…

1. Understand how xenophobia and racism (at the interpersonal, institutional, and structural levels) impact the health experiences of immigrant and refugee populations.
2. Evaluate how community-based participatory research plays a pivotal role in providing comprehensive care to immigrant and refugee populations.
3. Identify critical points of intervention (including decreasing linguistic barriers, utilizing a trauma-informed approach, and promoting an inclusive environment) to bolster health outcomes amongst immigrant and refugee communities.

Credits

• Written and produced by: Ashley Cooper, MS, MPhil; Asya Pitre, DO; Alec Calac, PhD
• Hosts: Asya Pitre, Ashley Cooper
• Infographic: Ashley Cooper
• Audio Edits: Ashley Cooper
• Show Notes: Alec Calac
• Guests: Dr. Harita Shah, MD, Dr. Sarah Kimball, MD & Dr. Masha Slavin, MD

Speaker Biographies:

Dr. Masha Slavin, MD, is a primary care physician at Bellevue Hospital, a large public hospital in New York City, and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. In her role as the director of primary care for Bellevue’s Program for Survivors of Torture, she works with a multidisciplinary team of behavioral health, legal, and social work colleagues in caring for people who have experienced human rights violations. Her particular interests are in medical education on immigrant health, with the goal of improving clinicians’ comfort level in caring for this patient population and in improving workflows that facilitate care. She also enjoys working with medical students as an advisor to the NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Asylum Clinic.

Dr. Harita Shah, MD, is a med-peds primary care physician and an Assistant Professor in General Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago. Dr. Shah trained at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Urban Health Medicine-Pediatrics residency program. Her research focuses on the combination of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and implementation science to improve access to preventive care for underserved populations. She has directed 3 community-engaged public health campaigns, including most recently the PrEPárate campaign promoting access to PrEP among Latino/a/e sexual and gender minority individuals in Chicago (preparate.info). Her current research includes a community-driven project to understand best practices for serving Latinx populations, with a goal of informing health equity initiatives.

Dr. Sarah Kimball, MD, is a board-certified internist and is an Associate Professor at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. She completed her medical school training at Harvard University Medical School and did residency training in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Residency Program. Dr. Kimball has expertise in immigration-informed medical care, where she has helped to research and build health systems that are responsive to the needs of im/migrant patients. She is currently the Director of the Immigrant & Refugee Health Center (IRHC) at Boston Medical Center, a comprehensive medical home that addresses the barriers that immigrants face to being holistically healthy.

References

1. Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture (PSOT). (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://www.survivorsoftorture.org/
2. Doctors for Immigrants. (n.d.). Doctors for Immigrants. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://doctorsforimmigrants.com/
3. Doctors for Immigrants. (n.d.). Our Work and Toolkit. Doctors for Immigrants. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://doctorsforimmigrants.com/ourwork/
4. Hernandez, K. L. (2010). Migra!: A History of the U.S. Border Patrol. University of California Press.
5. Immigrant and Refugee Health Center. (n.d.). Boston Medical Center. Retrieved August 17, 2025, from https://www.bmc.org/immigrant-refugee-health-center
6. Radl-Karimi, C., Nielsen, D. S., Sodemann, M., Batalden, P., & von Plessen, C. (2022). “When I feel safe, I dare to open up”: Immigrant and refugee patients’ experiences with coproducing healthcare. Patient Education and Counseling, 105(7), 2338–2345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2021.11.009
7. Shah, H. S., Serrano, P. A., Rodriguez-Diaz, C. E., Page, K. R., Ross, J., Wilson, S. M., & Cantos, V. D. (2025). Not a Monolith: Regional HIV Implementation Science Lessons With Latino/a/x Populations. JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 98(5 Suppl), e98–e103. https://doi.org/10.1097/QAI.0000000000003611
8. The PrEPárate Campaign. (n.d.). PrEP for You & Me. The PrEPárate Campaign. Retrieved August 1, 2025, from https://www.preparate.info/

Disclosures 

The hosts and guests report no relevant financial disclosures.

Citation

Kimball S, Shah H,  Slavin M, Pitre A, Cooper A, Krishnamurthy S, Calac A. “Episode 28: Live from SGIM 2025: Best of Antiracism Research at the Society of General Internal Medicine’s 2025 Annual Meeting” The Clinical Problem Solvers Podcast – Antiracism in Medicine Series. https://clinicalproblemsolving.com/antiracism-in-medicine/. September 15, 2025.

Show Transcript

We continue our campaign to #EndNeurophobia, with the help of Dr. Aaron Berkowitz. This time, Jeffrey presents a
case of headache and diplopia to Vale and Sebastian. 

Neurology DDx Schema

Jeffrey Shen 

Jeffrey is an academic rheumatologist whose early love for guessing TV plot twistswith his parents sparked a lifelong passion forclinical problem solving. He is especially drawn to caring for misunderstood patients, striving to offer empathetic and thoughtful care. Atwork, he leads the weekly case conference and co-directs a neuro-rheumatology clinic. Outside of medicine, he enjoys watching animewith his two kittens and—less successfully—singing in the shower. 

Sebastian Green (@sebfgreen)

Dr. Sebastian Green is a neurology resident at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).He was born and raised in London,England. He has degrees in Medicine from the University of Bristol and Neuroscience from the University of Oxford. He has publishedon neuroimaging, memory, sleep, epilepsy, and more. Dr. Green is passionate about medical education in neurology, and using EEGto answer big questions about the brain.

Valeria Roldan (@valeroldan23)

Valeria Roldan was born and raised in Lima, Peru. She recently graduated medical school at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and is excited to pursue a career in Neurology. She is passionate about LGBTQ+ health, particularly advocating for trans rights, as well as medical education. She would describe herself as an optimist and outside of medicine you probably will find her running or reading. 

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Schema PDF

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RLR MAIN PODCAST

Episode description

RR discuss a case of AKI

Student discount

https://www.rlrcpsolvers.com/student-discounts/

IMG discount

Use coupon code RLRIMG at check out  https://rlrcpsolvers.com/annual-plan