UCSF School of Medicine announced Dr. Washington, Assistant Professor of Urology and Epidemiology as one of eight honored as a John A. Watson Faculty Scholar and recipient of the Dean’s Diversity Fund. The award named after former UCSF faculty, Professor John A Watson, a scientist, mentor and pioneer of diversity, who catapulted the number of women and minority students in the medical school in the 1970’s.
The Dean’s Diversity Fund is a 3 year, $75,000 per year grant to support and develop the recipient’s academic interests and contributions to the community. Recipients of this award are chosen because of their dedication and commitment to diversity and the action they have taken to care for underserved and vulnerable populations.
Following Dr. Washington’s fellowship with the UCSF Dept of Urology he joined the team as part of the urologic oncology faculty in 2020. His career demonstrates his dedication and commitment to improve quality of healthcare among underserved populations. His research focuses on advancing understanding of racial and socioeconomic factors that impact survival outcomes in genitourinary malignancies like bladder and prostate cancer. He is active in raising awareness of racial/ethnic disparities in diagnosis, management and treatment of these conditions in the healthcare community.
Dr. Washington is actively engaged as a mentor in the UReTER (UnderRepresented Trainees Entering Residency) Mentorship Program to reach out and support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and Latinx Urology applicants. He is a member on the advisory committee at the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), a community of healthcare professionals that help promote quality cancer care and through education and advocacy. He is actively involved with events hosted by R. Frank Jones Urological Society and UrologyUnbound to increase the representation of Black surgeons in Urology and support Black trainees across the country. He is also the co-creator of the UroCORE Scholarship program, which supports fourth year medical students (MD and DO candidates) from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds doing four-week clinical elective (sub-internship) rotation within the UCSF Department of Urology with focused weekly active mentorship meetings and an award stipend. He has over 50 peer reviewed publications on his research, including a collaboration with 10 black urologists to share their experiences in order to show support and encourage diversity in field of urology in their publication “Supporting Black voices in urology” .
Watch Dr. Washington’s presentation on “Drivers of racial disparities in management of genitourinary cancers: Examining geographics variations in evaluation and treatment” from UCSF Urology Grand Rounds on July 14, 2021 by clicking here.
Read more about the John A. Watson Faculty Scholars by clicking here.