Woke WOC Docs

Join us, Woke WOC Docs, for a live podcast recording and community celebration with womxn of color healers rooted in Oakland! Together, we talk more about healing by and for womxn of color and communities in Oakland and how various healing practices, frameworks, and modalities can work together for community medicine and healing.

As Woke WOC Docs has grown bigger with 500+ subscribers across our platforms and nearly 10k+ plays in less than a year since its infancy, this event will launch our third season and podcast tour to different cities across the US, starting in the Bay Area. We will be visiting different cities throughout fall 2019 and 2020 doing live podcast recordings and community gatherings in partnership with HBCUs, institutions, and cities that have a rich history for womxn and communities of color.

Oakland-rooted Confirmed Panelists:

Aisha Mays, teen doc and founder of Dream Youth Clinic

Leah Kimble-Price, founder of Claire's House

Frances Fu, activist, creator

Angela Aguilar, full-spectrum doula/traditional birthworker and PhD student in Ethnic Studies

Honey Gold Jasmine, artist, art therapist

Light food and refreshments will be available.

Friday, September 27

6:30-8:30pm

Red Bay Coffee HQ

3098 E. 10th St. Oakland

(near Fruitvale Station BART)

RSVP at wokewocdocs.com

For our last episode of our Summer Series, we are talking with Dr. Paula Lum and Dr. Triveni DeFries, both physician activists of the UCSF Primary Care Addiction Medicine Fellowship.

In this episode, we talk more about the historical and racial roots of the socially constructed phenomena of “the opioid epidemic”. In addition, we talk about how structural and social determinants have affected historical and current drug epidemics, including the rising methamphetamine epidemic going on now.

We most importantly talk about how health professionals must de-stigmatize the culture of shame around drug use both in patient care and within our institutions through our words, actions, and activism. We also talk about how to expand resources in our hospitals and communities in order to address drug epidemics and their associated stigma and shame for people affected.

We hope this episode serves as a call to action for many people to address personal and institutional biases about people and communities affected by the rise of current drug epidemics. Most of all, we hope this episode brings compassion and humanity to these very real issues of our communities.

Also check out our brotha Max’s podcast “Flip the Script” episodes “Opioids in Black and White” Pt. 1 and 2 for further context on the current opioid epidemic! https://soundcloud.com/yaleuniversity/opioids-in-black-and-white-pt-ii-imani?in=yaleuniversity/sets/flip-the-script

Bios:

Paula J. Lum, MD MPH is Professor of Clinical Medicine and Program Director of the UCSF Primary Care Addiction Medicine Fellowship. She has been a faculty member in the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital since 1999. Board certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine, Dr. Lum practices at the place where HIV, addiction, and poverty collide. Her research and clinical activities are grounded in evidence-based, patient-centered care to improve health outcomes and life quality of the urban poor. Her current areas of focus include: (1) HIV and viral hepatitis prevention and treatment in persons who inject drugs, (2) evidence-based interventions in primary care and non-traditional settings for substance use disorders and their complications, and (3) curricular interventions to provide health care professionals with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to offer effective patient-centered care to persons who use drugs.

Triveni DeFries, MD, MPH was born and raised in Washington, DC. She studies Human Rights & Latin American Studies as an undergraduate at Columbia. After completing her MPH in Global Health at Columbia University, she moved to San Francisco where she attended UCSF for medical school and internal medicine residency. She worked for the Indian Health Service as a general internist in the Navajo Nation in Shiprock, NM for 2 years. Her professional interests are in transforming and teaching primary care to be trauma-informed and integrate the care of people with substance use disorder. She also spends time working on medical evaluations of people seeking asylum in the US. She enjoys spending time outdoors with daughters!

Hey y'all! Bernie here today with some exciting news for all of our listeners across the United States.

As many of you know and have followed, Nicole and I are the founders of the Freedom School for Intersectional Medicine and Health Justice which has become an amazing community and healing space for people involved in medicine, public health, and health justice work.

Since our start in January 2018, we’ve engaged over 200 people here in the Bay Area on what it means to bridge theory and community and center the histories, narratives, voices, and experiences of womxn and communities of color in health justice work.

Today, we are excited to announce an opportunity: the Freedom School Healing & Health Justice National Fellowship.

Through this fellowship, we believe we can most effectively cultivate and learn from leaders who embody our Freedom School philosophy which is that we must transform and heal ourselves in order to transform and heal our communities. Change starts with us.

As a fellow, you will engage in fellowship healing circles, mentorship, and a year-long curriculum on health justice and healing centering womxn and communities of color. In addition, each fellow will implement their Vision for Social Change. You’ll also be part of a dope, fun, amazing nationwide community of health justice warriors and healers!

If you’re interested in applying, head to our website: www.intersectionalmedicine.org/fellowship.

Applications are due September 22.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions!

“We cannot be generative if we are afraid.”

We are so hype for you to hear and learn from the wisdom and electric energy of Dr. Monica McLemore, Assistant Professor of Family Health Care Nursing at UCSF.

Together, we talk about health injustices faced by Black mothers and the amazing work of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance. In addition, we talk about the importance of Reproductive Justice frameworks and the brilliant work that Dr. McLemore has done and continues to imagine with love for the health and well-being of Black mothers.

We hope that by the end of this episode, listeners are encouraged to create change within their institutions and communities for Black mothers, children, and families. #ThisCouldAllBeDifferent and it will be.

Bio:

At the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Monica McLemore is an assistant professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department, an affiliated scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, and a member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. She maintains clinical practice as a public health and staff nurse at San Francisco General Hospital in the Women’s Options Center. McLemore’s research is geared toward understanding women’s health and wellness across the lifespan. She is an elected member of the governing council for Population Reproductive and Sexual Health section of the American Public Health Association and a recipient of the 2015 teaching award from the American College of Nurse Midwives. She received the 2018 Person of the Year Award from the Abortion Care Network. Her work embraces complex and intersectional problems associated with sexual and reproductive health, including health disparities, stigma, incarceration, unintended pregnancy, and difficulty accessing services.

Spotlight on the U.S. immigration border crisis has significantly increased in large part due to the hateful rhetoric of the Trump administration and global xenophobic sentiments. However, these issues have always existed. Our communities are standing strong in the fight for justice.

In this episode, we’re talking with Dr. Eleanor Chung, a pediatrician at UCSF who started the Bridges Clinic, which provides health services for refugees, asylees, and victims of trafficking at San Francisco General Hospital. We talk more about how medicine intersects with the continuing fight for immigrant health and justice, especially with recent media coverage on horrific events occurring at the border. We briefly touch on why it is important to understand the deeply rooted history of the current immigration crisis and why collaborative, interdisciplinary wrap-around care is essential to address the needs of immigrant communities today.

We hope this episode serves as an urgent call for justice, service, and love to all communities affected by these ongoing crises. We are fighting alongside you.

Additional resources:

ACLU "Know Your Rights" graphics and videos (in 10 languages): https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights/know-your-rights-discrimination-against-immigrants-and-muslims?redirect=feature/know-your-rights-immigration#immigration

Creating sanctuary spaces: toolkits & resources for health providers(Everyone Belongs Here): https://www.everyonebelongshere.net/toolkit

Bio:

Dr. Eleanor Chung, MD is an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF who has used her role as a healer to support the wellbeing of immigrant children and families in San Francisco.

In addition to her work as a clinician and educator at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Dr. Chung has led a number of impactful projects, including the Bridges Clinic at the ZSFG Children’s Health Center. The clinic addresses the unique medical, legal and mental health needs of new immigrant children and families, many of whom are asylum seekers, and provides vital connections to community resources. She has given expert testimony on the impact of trauma and parental separation on children’s health and helped preserve many immigrant families.

Dr. Chung is also the co-coordinator of the Too Small to Fail initiative, in which pediatricians teach parents that talking, reading, and singing to their young children can boost early brain and language development. Over 80 percent of parents reported improvements in their child’s behavior through this program.

She is the recipient of the UCSF Edison T. Uno Public Service Award.

Police violence and law enforcement violence is a pressing public health issue. Period. In particular, indigenous, Black, Latinx, disabled, mentally ill and poor people are disproportionately targeted by police violence. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Rupa Marya who co-leads the Justice Study, a community-based study that researches health outcomes in communities where there is police violence and no justice. We talk about what true community partnership means, how art & music blend with Rupa's justice work, and how we can use white coat privileges to join in the fight for the communities that continue to experience trauma related to law enforcement violence.

For more about the Justice Study, visit: https://www.donoharmcoalition.org/the-justice-study-english.html

Bio:

Rupa Marya, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine within the Division of Hospital Medicine. Her interests center around the intersection of society and illness, focusing research on how social structures may predispose different disadvantaged groups to certain illnesses. She is Faculty Director of the Do No Harm Coalition, a 450+ member strong group of health workers and students dedicated to ending racism and state violence.

In partnership with Dr Sara Jumping Eagle, Dr Linda Black Elk and MASS Design Group, she is currently helping to set up the Mni Wiconi Health Clinic at Standing Rock, at the invitation of Lakota and Dakota health leaders to create a space for the practice of Decolonized Medicine. She is the co-investigator of The Justice Study, a national effort to understand the link between police violence and health outcomes in communities most affected by that violence.

Since residency at UCSF, she has been the composer and front-woman for the international touring group Rupa & the April Fishes, a project that uses music as a way to explore the intersection of society and disease.

Happy Summer y'all!

We are very excited to launch our first Summer Series which will highlight womxn of color experts and activists addressing critical health issues affecting underserved communities today.

The topics we've chosen to highlight this summer are: Police Violence as a Public Health Issue, the Opioid Epidemic, Black Maternal Health Activism, and the Immigration/Border Crisis.

In each episode, we hope to give listeners foundational knowledge as to why addressing these health issues is critical to the health, well-being, and healing of our communities. We also hope that these episodes are calls to action that emphasize why our visions for a more just world are not only urgent, but possible.

Other announcements:

(1) Thank you to everyone who has purchased a sticker! Y'all are the real ones! Stay tuned for exciting live events happening in the Fall.

(2) Get yourself a FREE sticker by giving us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts! Check out the opportunity at wokewocdocs.com.

“Who could we become and who are we if we define ourselves in ways other than just being oppressed and under siege?” The wisdom of Margo Okazawa-Rey in this podcast radiates, y’all. We are so excited for you to hear it.

In this episode, we talk more about Margo’s journey into and through activism as one that is a deeply personal endeavor, from being a founding member of the historic Black feminist Combahee River Collective to pursuing international peacemaking work and liberation efforts. Together, we discuss how local health injustices in the United States are connected to global struggles for liberation and freedom and why loving, authentic relationships are critical to defeating individualistic and othering mindsets that have plagued many of today’s societies.

By the end of this episode we hope y’all note these wise words from Margo: Our future depends on freedom spaces. Our future depends on authentic, loving relationships. Our future depends on moving with joy. Our future depends on us.

Bio:

Margo Okazawa-Rey is an activist and educator working on issues of militarism, armed conflict and violence against women. Margo was a member of the historic Black feminist Combahee River Collective. She is a founding member of the Afro-Asian Relations Council, East Asia-U.S. Women’s Network Against Militarism, and the Institute for Multiracial Justice and the International Network of Women Against Militarism. She has a long standing relationship to social justice work in South Korea and with the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling in Palestine. 

Margo is co-author of “A Black Feminist Statement” (1978) with the Combahee River Collective and co-editor of Activist Scholarship: Antiracism, Feminism and Social Change (2009), and of Women’s Lives, Multicultural Perspectives (1998) and author of Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to Anti-Racist, Multicultural Curriculum and Staff Development (1998). Margo is currently Elihu Root Peace Fund Visiting Professor in Women’s Studies at the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California. She is also professor Emrita at San Francisco State University and has held the Jane Watson Irwin Chair at Hamilton College.

We are especially excited to share this episode featuring Hamida Yusufzai, a community activist doing health justice work as the Program Manager of Banteay Srei, a community organization founded as a safe space for young Southeast Asian women who are engaged or at-risk of sexual exploitation in Oakland, California.

As doctors, we believe it is important to step out of our ivory academic towers and uplift the work being done by community activists who intimately know issues of health equity on a daily, firsthand basis.

Together, we talk more about Hamida’s journey into and through organizing and activism and why she calls her move to Oakland from the UK her homecoming. She drops gems on self-care as a daily practice and how future healthcare practitioners can avoid the quote “busyness” of everyday life to honor themselves and the patients they serve.

Updates and news:

(1) Woke WOC Docs Stickers!

We are now selling Woke WOC Doc stickers! For only $5 you can get a 3x3 inch sticker of our logo. It’s perfect for your laptops, water bottles, guitar cases, skateboards, anything you want! Order at WokeWOCDocs.com.

(2) Congrats to our co-host Bernie, the youngest ever recipient of National Minority Quality Forum’s 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health! More about her award here: http://www.nmqf.org/40-under-40-awardees/2019/lim

Bio:

Experience at Rape Crisis, Eaves for Women and Liverpool University provide Hamida with a multi sector perspective. She has a degree in Development Studies and has worked as a grassroots community organizer in various countries; she has a global understanding of violence against women. Currently, she is the Program Manager of Banteay Srei, Oakland (www.banteaysrei.org).

Hamida has over 20 years of experience working in youth development and youth organizing with system impacted youth of color. She is an advocate for comprehensive services for CSEC and contributes to the enhancement of the intensive case management component used to address the economic and emotional needs of young women oppressed by sexual violence. Hamida is developing Banteay Srei’s training resources and best practice for professionals.

Dr. Maisha Davis is about to get real with us in this episode y’all. Together, we talk about Maisha’s journey into and through medicine, including how living at the intersection of multiple identities has helped them connect deeply with their patients. In addition, Maisha tells us how they have been able to draw radical boundaries in their own career and life journey around what makes them feel alive: arts, culture, and therapy. As a healer and artist, Maisha tells us more about why therapy is so important for learners in medicine/healthcare, how healing in medicine is founded upon listening and bearing witness to patients’ lives, and how art is life-giving and spiritually fulfilling.

Bio:

Maisha Davis is a Family Medicine physician living in Oakland, CA whose educational path has led them through Stanford, Mills, UCSF, and UC Berkeley. They are dedicated to keeping the “art” in the “art of healing” by thinking outside the box and centering patients’ humanity. Maisha’s healing focus revolves around bringing Integrative medicine to Black and Brown communities, queer and trans folks, individuals living with HIV, and adolescents. They love music, sci-fi, culture, want to be a DJ, and can be found at innumerable concerts, theaters, museums, and dance parties throughout the Bay area.