Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD,  Ph.D.
Director, Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine

LECTURE

12:00-1:00 pm   Lecture

ABOUT THE TALK

Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in access to and quality of health care constitute a major national public health problem that greatly challenge the US health systems of care. The recently published AHRQ’s 2005 National Healthcare Disparities Report reported that, while health care disparities (including mental health) seem to be narrowing overall for most ethnic minority populations, disparities have worsened for Latinos in both access to and quality of care measures. This presentation will provide a roadmap to reducing mental health disparities in Latinos by addressing how quality of care is linked to issues of cultural and linguistic competence in the clinical encounter between providers and children, adolescents and their families and to issues of workforce diversity and development. It concludes with some recommendations and a call to action to shore up the widening gap in mental health care disparities in Latinos.

ABOUT DR. SERGIO AGUILAR-GAXIOLA

Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola is Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine.  In addition Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola is the Director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at the UC Davis School of Medicine.  Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola’s research interests include: Minority mental health (e.g., prevalence of mental disorders, risk and protective factors, mental health service utilization patterns, access to care, and treatment outcomes), cross-cultural comparative epidemiologic research on patterns and correlates of psychiatric disorders in general population samples, idiomatic expressions of psychological distress in Spanish-speaking populations, and applications of standardized psychiatric diagnostic instruments.

ABOUT UCLA CRETSCMHD
A diverse group of faculty, health professionals, community-based agencies, and minority media have joined together though CRETSCMHD to effectively reduce or eliminate disparities in health among racial and ethnic minorities. As part of the Center’s mission CRETSCMHD will be offering a series of educational lecture for UCLA faculty, local health care providers and organizations focused on service delivering and health planning. these sessions focus on the elimination of health disparities in the areas of cancer, diabetes, and coronary heart disease.

Center Director:
Vickie M. Mays, Ph.D., MSPH, Professor, UCLA Department of Psychology & Department of Health Services, School of Public Health

ABOUT UCLA-NPI HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH CENTER
The mission of the UCLA Health Services Research Center is to improve health policy, health care, and quality of life for people with psychiatric and neurological disorders.  Integrating expertise from the fields of medicine, public health, public policy, and social science the Center focuses on issues pertaining to the delivery and quality of treatment, health care policy and quality of life.  Through research, the dissemination of findings, and in collaboration with community and academic groups, the Center strives to increase public awareness, inform policy decisions, and provide information and tools for the public, health care practitioners, and policymakers to use to obtain and create better health care and better health outcomes.

ABOUT UCLA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE
Founded in 1947, the Social Welfare Program at UCLA is an international leader in social work education, research, and human services. Around the world, thousands of our skilled graduates are making a difference as social work administrators, practitioners and scholars. Our research, training and distinctive cross-cultural emphasis guide policy makers, shape practice and programs in such areas as welfare, aging, health care, mental health, children and families, and long-term support. As we enter our second half-century, a vital part of a great public university, we remain committed to placing our knowledge at the service of the community and empowering the disadvantaged and vulnerable.

LOCATION & PARKING
Stop at any of the UCLA parking kiosks to purchase a parking permit for structure #2. Attendants will be on duty to collect $8 and direct you to structure #2.

ABOUT THE LECTURE

This lecture is presented the UCLA Center for Research, Education, Training, and Strategic Communication on Minority Health Disparities (CRETSCMHD), the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, Health Services Research Center and the UCLA School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare.  Social Workers, MFTs, Physicians, Psychologists and Registered Nurses, possible 1 unit CE credit.