ACGME Vice President, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Pilar Ortega, MD, MGM served as the keynote speaker at the Bowman Society Lecture at the University of Chicago on October 17, 2024. In this post, she shares reflections on the experience and the importance of the topics she addressed in her presentation, which underscore the work she does professionally as a physician and in her role at the ACGME. Dr. Ortega attended medical school at the University of Chicago.
To be the keynote speaker at the Bowman Society Lecture Series is a deeply personal and meaningful opportunity for me, as these lectures played a critical role in my own journey. As a medical student, attending these lectures was pivotal for me—hearing from thought leaders who championed diversity, equity, and inclusion in medicine helped shape my path. Now, being invited to stand on that stage to deliver my own lecture was an incredible honor.
My talk addressed “Why Multilingualism is a Physician Superpower and How to Activate It.” Language equity is a topic about which I am deeply passionate. For physicians, the ability to communicate effectively with our patients and their families, and with communities is more than just a skill—it is a tool to provide better care, build trust, and eliminate health disparities, especially for underserved populations. This discussion feels even more timely, as it closely aligns with the end of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, a celebration of culture, identity, and the power of diversity, and with National Latino Physician Day, a recognition day for which the ACGME is an official partner.
The Bowman Society honors the legacy of Dr. James E. Bowman, and it is a privilege to contribute to this series that supports career development, fosters multicultural, inclusive learning environments, and supports workforce diversity in medicine.
My own journey in medicine began in the very auditorium where the Bowman Society Lecture took place. In fact, I was a first-year medical student when I first started carving my path as a future language equity scholar and researcher. Due to the lack of available medical Spanish educational opportunities, I took it upon myself to develop materials to share with my peers, and I used those materials to design and implement a medical Spanish course at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. This experience became pivotal for my career as a medical educator, language proficiency researcher, and leader. Returning to my alma mater to highlight the power of multilingualism felt like a full-circle moment in my career.
The work doesn’t stop here. This week, the ACGME will launch the Language Equity in Health Care Toolkit, developed as part of ACGME Equity Matters®, in partnership with the American Medical Association, the American Association of Medical Colleges, and the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care. This toolkit addresses the critical need for language equity in health care settings, focusing on improving communication and care outcomes for patients with non-English language preferences and the experiences of multilingual physician learners, faculty members, and staff members in the clinical setting.
I am excited to see the impact this toolkit will have on advancing equitable health care and supporting multilingual physicians in their vital work to improve population health.
Guest blogger Dr. Pilar Ortega joined the staff of the ACGME in 2023. She is an emergency medicine physician, a language equity researcher, an entrepreneur, and a graphic medicine artist.