I am a Physician, Public health expert, author and advocate for those in marginalized communities. Before I was any of those things though, I was the eldest daughter of a single teenage mom. My mother always believed in me and supported me on my journey to becoming a Physician. I was raised in a small town in Georgia where I woke up daily to cotton fields outside of my window. After high school, I went to the University of Houston and graduated cum laude with a Bachelors of Science degree. I returned home to Georgia in 2000 and attended the Medical College of Georgia where I graduated in 2005. I went on to do a joint Residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of South Florida. I subsequently did a Fellowship in Preventive Medicine where I also obtained my Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
After fifteen long years of training, I finally began my career as a Hospital Medicine Physician. During this time, I became intimately aware of the inequities entrenched in our healthcare system. I committed to doing my best to make sure that every patient, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, received the highest quality care. During this time I was offered my dream job at a top academic institution in the Southeast. Imagine! This little black girl, raised by a single teenage mom, was living the dream as a Physician in a large metropolitan area with my husband and three amazing children. We even had the quintessential dog.
It was only after I began my ‘dream’ job at this top academic institution, that the inequities, biases and microagressions that I had frequently witnessed impacting other people of color, but that I had believed I was largely isolated from, began to affect me.
Advocacy is not for the faint of heart. At this top academic institution, I provided care to marginalized populations. If there were policies being enacted that could cause patient harm, I spoke up about them. If there were team members that were making decisions that resulted in delayed care, I advocated for my patients. As a result, I was penalized, stereotyped as aggressive by leadership and my livelihood was threatened. Although on the surface, my department appeared very diverse, no diversity of thought or expression was allowed. I had committed the cardinal sin of having opinions that differed from leadership and speaking up on behalf of my patients.
I experienced near daily micro-aggressions at work which were emotionally and physically taxing and resulted in the development of anxiety and migraines. The underlying message from leadership at this top academic institution was that I needed to know my place. Not even the armor of all of my degrees could protect me.
The lowest point in my professional career was when I found myself in my car crying as I was leaving work. I knew then that what was supposed to be my dream job was a nightmare. I determined at that moment I was no longer going to sit down and shut up. I ultimately discussed my experiences of marginalization and micro-aggression with leadership and then chose to leave that organization and take my gifts, talents and passions to an organization that would value me.
It is because of that experience, and many others, that I now do what I do. I’ve moved beyond the exam room to the conference room. I use my voice and diversity, equity and inclusion expertise to help organizations meet the needs of their employees and the communities of color that they serve. I do this through a three pronged approach including diversity strategy, implicit bias trainings and policy implementation. When you create inclusive environments that celebrate differences, you build cultures where individuals can thrive and be the best version of themselves. Leaders who value diversity, success, and innovation work with me to put Equity in Motion©.
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Kanika Sims, MD, MPH, is a Physician, Health Equity + Workplace Inclusion Strategist and author of “Diversity Is Not a Dirty Word: Harnessing the Power of Inclusion to Create Anti-racist Organizations.”
