Office of Belonging, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Ry grew up in El Paso, TX, and at Brown earned a bachelor’s in ethnic studies, focusing on racism in science and medicine with the goal of addressing systemic inequalities in medicine. As a Mexican-American from a low-income background who identifies as nonbinary, Ry felt this experience could help other students in similar positions through the ODMA fellowship.

“Having the lived experience and being able to see where there were gaps in ways that we could offer more support … was part of what made me interested in being part of the ODMA and using the year that I had off to help fix some of those things,” Ry says.

As the inaugural ODMA diversity fellow, Ry was granted much freedom to shape the fellowship. Ry channeled relevant experiences, such as having been a Minority Peer Counselor program leader as an undergraduate, and felt empowered by the chance to work alongside faculty. Ry also helped develop new initiatives, including a program to help those underrepresented in medicine (URiM) receive guidance from other students.

To increase long-term success and investment in initiatives undertaken by others in the Medical School community, Ry started a database for these other projects to improve organization, track these efforts, and ensure continuity and a long-term commitment to the communities that the programs serve.

“From the perspective of having sustainability and not constantly recreating the wheel, we wanted to find a way to connect” those involved, Ry says. Ry also assisted and supported students in launching new projects, like connecting new students with local organizations and strengthening the LGBTQ curriculum.

Ry created and led the Brown Advocates for Social Change and Equity (BASCE) fellowship, which prepares students, residents, and faculty to lead diversity efforts and conversations at the Medical School, by creating a space where those interested in this work can collaborate and develop the necessary skills.

The ODMA fellowship offers “a lot of room for growth, a lot of room to develop different types of skills to get to work with folks that are already in leadership positions,” Ry says, fondly recalling working with ODMA staff and the lifelong relationships built through the program.

Ry just completed a family medicine residency at Duke University and was selected as a Pisacano Scholar, which offers funding, mentorship, and education to prospective leaders of family medicine. Applying skills learned from the ODMA fellowship and seeking to address barriers to health access among Black and Latinx communities, Ry worked with a large coalition of physicians, health administrators, and community organizations to establish COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites in Durham, NC. Ry is starting a fellowship that will enable a balance between clinical work and a project to increase health care access through mobile primary care.

“Health is one of the facets of the many types of inequalities and social determinants of health that people face,” Ry says. “The goal is that I would continue to be able to do that kind of work as a doctor, as a person who is part of these community coalitions.”