S3 EP1: Lifting Up Health Equity

Dr. Paula Houston

Today that guest is Paula Houston (she/her), chief equity officer for UW Medicine in the Office of Healthcare Equity.

Paula talks with episode host Frank Nam about how her own experience navigating the health care system as a Black woman and three-time breast cancer survivor motivated her to devote her career to health care equity. A world-champion in powerlifting, Paula also discusses personal and professional moments of belonging and why community engagement is essential to the mission of UW Medicine. 

“We’re dismantling oppressive systems, and it’s going to make it better for everybody,” Paula says. “(At UW Medicine) now we don’t just talk about health equity, but we talk about health justice.”

During the pandemic, Paula and her team have worked to improve access to testing and vaccines in Seattle’s south-end communities and communities of color. A big part of that effort: truly listening to what people have to say.

“People have their own agency within communities, and we’re there to work with them. They need to lead by telling us what they need, but we really need to listen in a way that we haven’t been listening before,” she says.

Learn more about Paula in a virtual exhibit from the Gates Foundation Discovery Center called Enduring COVID-19: Stories from our Transforming World. And don’t miss the opportunity to engage with her and other speakers during the first installation of Facing Forward, a new Discovery Center program series. Register for the Feb. 17 event here. 

Thank you again to the Big Phony, a Korean-American singer/songwriter living in Seoul, South Korea for allowing us to his music in our intro and outro, all royalty-free!