Meet our Vice Chair for JEDI, Dr. Kimberly Curseen
Dr. Curseen, an associate professor of palliative medicine, presently holds the Director of Supportive/Palliative Care Outpatient Clinical Services position in the Division of Palliative Medicine. She is currently serving as the co-chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine DEI Council. Dr. Curseen is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia and the Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program. Subsequently, she pursued a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where she concentrated on Palliative Care in her second year. While at the University of Arkansas, she developed the Ethno-geriatric curriculum, which was embedded in the required geriatric clerkship for all 4th year medical students.
Dr. Curseen is nationally known as an advocate for health equity. She serves on the board of TOUCH: The Black Breast Cancer Alliance and contributes as a member of both the Health Equity Steering Committee and the Anti-Racist Advisory Committee for the Center for Advancement of Palliative Care. She represented the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in the CMSS/ACGME Equity Matters Project. She was instrumental in devising the framework for AAHPM's capstone project, the Next Generation Scholars Program. This initiative focuses on promoting underrepresented resident exposure to Palliative Medicine. She has been invited to give Grand Rounds at UC San Diego, Massachusetts General, and UCLA divisions of geriatrics and palliative care on implicit bias and healthcare disparities.
Her dedication to inclusivity and health equity earned her an invitation to the Equal Justice Initiative Healthcare Convening, aimed at shaping their healthcare initiative. Dr. Curseen actively contributes to the School of Medicine DEI committee, co-chairs the Clinical Implicit Bias sub-committee, and is an Implicit Bias trainer for the SOM. She also is a core faculty member for the Emory Community Based Learning and Social Medicine Course (CLSM) for the 1st year medical students. She recently presented "How Medicare Advantage Could Address Pain Inequities for Black Patients" at the 2023 Medicare Advantage Summit and will present at the C-TAC/CAPC Leadership Conference on achieving health equity for African American patients.
One of Dr. Curseen's academic interests is in enhancing access to palliative care, particularly for geriatric and other vulnerable groups.
In her words: "I am both honored and excited to serve as the Vice Chair for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at Emory. My priorities are clear: to make JEDI not just an initiative but a foundational principle that guides our decision-making. I want to support an environment where we celebrate our differences, nurture authenticity, and reflect these values in how we treat our patients, trainees, and each other. Together, let’s look through the lens of DEI-J not just to see the world as it is, but as it could be."
