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Background: Healthcare providers who care for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) must be able to provide effective counseling about a kidney friendly diet. Nutrition is under-emphasized in medical curricula, and the kidney diet is one of the most challenging diets. We hypothesized that participation in an experiential educational program in kidney diet will result in improved knowledge of the underlying principles behind it and provide concrete examples of how to explain this diet to patients. Methods: The first part of this study was a knowledge assessment administered to all United States nephrology fellows during the 2020 National Board of Medical Examiners Nephrology In-Training Exam. We later opened the assessment to a broader, global audience via social media. Respondents included trainees, practicing nephrologists, dieticians, and other health professionals. Participants self-identified willingness to participate in the second part of the study, the Kidney Diet Challenge (KDC). The 5-day challenge included daily webinars by experts in nutrition. Daily surveys captured self-reported adherence to the diet. Social media was used to engage with participants. All participants received a follow-up knowledge assessment. Results: Among the nephrology fellows (n=317), the median pre-test score was 2 out of 5 (40%) questions correct, and results did not differ by year of training (p=0.310). Of the participants (n=70) who completed the 5-day challenge and responded to the post-challenge survey, the post-test score was significantly higher (p<0.01) and 'ability to advise patients about kidney diet' improved (p<0.01). Analyzing stats from our official hashtag for this study (#kidneydietchallenge) showed that we achieved 406,241 reaches, 1,004,799 impressions with a total of 974 posts using this hashtag. Conclusions: The KDC is an immersive, experiential educational tool that enabled a global population to learn how to better counsel their patients about adherence to a complex kidney diet.

The fifth annual summer research summit organized by the Center of Excellence (COE) in Health Equity, Training and Research, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), was held on May 17, 2022. The theme of this year’s summit was ‘Academic-Community Partnerships: Change Agents for Advancing Health Equity.’ Given the ongoing pandemic, the summit was conducted virtually through digital platforms. This program was intended for both BCM and external audiences interested in advancing health equity, diversity, and inclusion in healthcare among healthcare providers and trainees, biomedical scientists, social workers, nurses, and individuals involved in talent acquisition and development, such as hiring managers (HR professionals), supervisors, college and hospital affiliate leadership and administrators, as well as diversity and inclusion excellence practitioners. We had attendees from all regions of the United States as well as from Saudi Arabia. The content in this Book of Abstracts encapsulates a summary of the research efforts by the BCM COE scholars (which includes post-baccalaureate students, medical students, clinical fellows, and junior faculty from BCM) as well as the external summit participants. The range of topics in this year’s summit was quite diverse, encompassing disparities in relation to maternal and child health (MCH), immigrant health, cancers, vaccination uptakes, and COVID-19 infections. Various solutions were ardently presented to address these disparities, including community engagement and partnerships, improvement in health literacy, and the development of novel technologies and therapeutics. With this summit, BCM continues to build on its long history of educational outreach initiatives to promote diversity in medicine by focusing on programs aimed at increasing the number of diverse and highly qualified medical professionals ready to introduce effective and innovative approaches to reduce or eliminate health disparities. These programs will improve information resources, clinical education, curricula, research, and cultural competence as they relate to minority health issues and social determinants of health. The year’s summit was a great success!   Copyright © 2022 Dongarwar et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0.

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