Toles is one of five medical students nationwide to receive a Herbert W. Nickens Medical Student Scholarship, an award given to outstanding students who have demonstrated leadership through their efforts to eliminate inequities in medical education and health care and through addressing the educational, societal and health-care needs of minorities. Toles will receive the $5,000 award on Nov. 8 during the AAMC annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
"Kara Toles is a compassionate advocate for reducing health disparities for people of color, the LGBT community and for all underserved, disenfranchised and marginalized people. She is an inspiration to her colleagues at UC Davis; her efforts to ensure equality make her an invaluable asset to our school and the patients we serve," said Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for human health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC Davis.
A native of Angleton, Texas, Toles is one of five African-American students in her medical school class of 104 and one of three who openly identifies as a member of the LGBT community. She said her personal experiences as a lesbian woman of color — encountering discrimination both because of her sexual orientation and race — have made her an ardent advocate of health for all, especially marginalized people.
Toles is in her third year of medical school. In her second year she was national secretary of UC Davis' chapter of the Student National Medical Association, the oldest and largest independent student-run organization for medical students of color in the United States. She leads the UC Davis chapter of LGBT People in Medicine and works with the school's admissions office to incorporate LGBT visibility into its interviewing processes. Toles is also the student representative to the school's Task Force for Inclusion of LGBT Identification in Electronic Health Records, the electronic patient-health record. She also serves on the school's Cultural Competence Training Committee.
Toles has also served as a member of the student leadership team at the Imani Clinic, one of the seven student-run health clinics for underserved populations in the Sacramento region. Located in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento, the clinic aims to improve health outcomes for low-income African-American and other community members.
"I would arrive (at the clinic) on Saturday mornings to a waiting room well beyond capacity," Toles said. "Time and time again, I witnessed how people of color were coming into clinic with poorly controlled, chronic preventable illnesses."
Members of the LGBT community also experience certain health disparities, and Toles has worked toward raising awareness of those issues. For example, women who never become pregnant have a greater lifetime risk of developing breast cancer than women who do become pregnant. This is especially salient for lesbians because, compared with the general population, lesbians are more likely to never have children or have children later in life, Toles said.
LGBT individuals also are less likely to receive routine preventive care than heterosexuals because of fear of discrimination from health-care professionals, which often stems from negative past experiences. They also face an increased risk of mental illness because of experiences with discrimination and harassment at home, at school and in the workplace, she said.
"The consequences of such inequities have become painfully clear, as is evidenced by the recent suicides of teens who identified or were perceived as being gay," Toles said.
"I'm not satisfied with the current status of health care in my communities," Toles said. "At UC Davis, I've been involved in initiatives that aim at reducing health disparities for both the African-American and LGBT communities. I've found a community of social justice advocates who, like me, are not satisfied with the status quo."
"As physicians we have a responsibility to take a leadership role and work within our communities and make our voices heard and advocate for changes that put an end to health inequities," she said.
The AAMC represents all 133 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; approximately 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 62 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and nearly 90 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 125,000 faculty members, 75,000 medical students, and 106,000 resident physicians.
The UC Davis School of Medicine is among the nation's leading medical schools, recognized for its research and primary-care programs. The school offers fully accredited master's degree programs in public health and in informatics, and its combined M.D.-Ph.D. program is training the next generation of physician-scientists to conduct high-impact research and translate discoveries into better clinical care. Along with being a recognized leader in medical research, the school is committed to serving underserved communities and advancing rural health. For more information, visit UC Davis School of Medicine at www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/medschool/.