Dr. Cristina Gonzalez of Albert Einstein College of Medicine is available to discuss implicit bias—the unintentional, unconscious assumptions we make—and how evidence-based training approaches can improve communications, attitudes, and relationships.
Dr. Gonzalez, an associate professor of medicine at Einstein and an academic hospitalist at Montefiore Health System, develops and leads courses on implicit bias for medical residents, physicians, and bioethicists. Her goal is to provide future physicians and others with tools to overcome healthcare disparities in clinical encounters, advocate for their patients and improve healthcare for everyone.
Dr. Gonzalez is available to discuss broad aspects of her work:
- The existence and recognition of implicit bias
- How to conduct rigorous research, develop evidence-based interventions and measure outcomes of implicit bias training
- The idea of “normalizing” bias – instead of denying bias, she advocates removing the stigma about it, recognizing its existence, and taking steps to improve patient care with bias in mind
- What implicit bias means to patients, physicians, and medical students
- How she teaches implicit bias to students
A recognized leader in the field of health disparities and advocacy education, Dr. Gonzalez has previously been selected as a scholar two prestigious national programs: the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program and the Macy Faculty Scholar program of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.
Dr. Gonzalez recently published a study in Patient Education and Counseling, as part of her continuing research about managing implicit bias in clinical encounters.
“Patients can be sensitive to verbal and nonverbal cues to bias,” says Dr. Gonzalez, referring to her latest findings. “If they feel dismissed or belittled by doctors, nurses or support staff, they may avoid or delay medical care. The key is that the physician can help salvage the relationship following perceived racial and ethnic bias by the patient.”
She also previously published a study and program evaluation in Academic Medicine about her elective course in health disparities and advocacy.
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