Details: 

The HI’s final Health Humanities Research Seminar of the spring term will feature Dr. Alan Schalscha and Dr. Nicholas Yagoda. Dr. Schalscha and Dr. Yagoda both occupy medical leadership positions in organizations that are at the center of attempts to address longstanding health and healthcare inequities in Central Texas. At the HHRS, Dr. Schalscha and Dr. Yagoda will discuss their experiences and what they have learned about effective leadership while working to provide and increase care for underserved populations.

Dr. Alan Schalscha is the Chief Medical Officer of Travis County Central Health and a clinical associate professor at Dell Medical School at UT-Austin. Prior to serving as CMO of Central Health, he was CMO of Central Health-affiliated CommUnityCare Health Centers. For close to two decades, Dr. Schalscha has also served as a volunteer board member and leader of DOCARE International, a medical outreach organization dedicated to providing health care to under-served communities around the world. He annually leads a team of 70-100 providers and students to Guatemala, and was instrumental in the establishment of two permanent continuity clinics in San Andres, Colombia and Tecpan, Guatemala. Dr. Schalscha was also named humanitarian of the year by the Travis County Medical Society in 2019 for his work with DOCARE.

Dr. Nicolas Yagoda is the director of primary care at CommUnityCare Health Centers where he also maintains a clinical practice as a family medicine physician and HIV specialist. He also serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at Dell Medical School. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, he completed his medical education at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and his post-graduate training at the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency in Massachusetts. Dr. Yagoda is committed to the care of the vulnerable and underserved. He loves and sometimes dabbles in the arts, and has maintained a fascination with law and the legal system.

The event will take place IN PERSON in the Multipurpose Room in the San Jacinto Residence Hall at 309 E. 21st Street. It will be followed by a reception and an opportunity for informal conversation. The closest parking garage is the Brazos Garage at 210 E MLK Boulevard. We are only just beginning to return to in-person events, and we hope that those who are able to attend in person will do so. However, a livestream option will be available for those unable to attend in person.