Dept. Faculty, Trainees, APPs Part of LATIN-19 Team that Wins 2020 Presidential Award

Congratulations to resident Tatiana Acosta, MD, MPH; APP Estela DiFranco Field, MSN, CNM; faculty Beverly Gray, MD; APP Isabel Jean, MSN, CNM, RNC-OB; resident Vivienne Meljen, MD; and faculty Maria Small, MD, MPH, who are part of the LATIN-19 (Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19) Team that won a 2021 Presidential Award.

The LATIN-19 Team: 

  • worked to identify and remedy pandemic-related disparities
  • helped improve access to testing, contact tracing and care
  • increased the amount of Spanish language COVID-19 information available 
  • guided state and local policy changes
  • helped reduce the infection rate among Durham’s Latinx community

Click here to see some of the resources Duke Ob/Gyn and Duke Health created on the Latin19 website (scroll to bottom of page).

Summary of the LATIN-19 TEAM Presidential Award Winners from Duke Today:

Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, Duke faculty members convened the Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19 (LATIN-19). Made of 56 volunteer members drawn from Duke University and Duke Health system, and with backgrounds in health care, public policy, education, business and community activism, the group worked to identify and remedy pandemic-related disparities facing the Latinx population. The group helped improve access to testing, contact tracing and care for the Latinx community, increase the amount of Spanish language COVID-19 information available and guide state and local policy changes. All of these steps helped reduce the infection rate among Durham’s Latinx community.

“Every aspect of this group has been extraordinary,” said Duke University School of Medicine Dean Mary Klotman. “They have taken their commitment to our community and turned it into action, filling huge gaps in providing support, advocacy, information and care for our Latinx community in North Carolina.”

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