Project Lead: Nico Henderson (UCSF)
Key Team Members: Vinny Minichiello, MD (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Marliese Warren, MS (UCSF), Jenifer Matthews, MD (UCSF/CHO), Melinda Ring, MD (Northwestern), Anand Dhruva, MD (UCSF) 

Consultants: Denise Connor, MD (UCSF), Elizabeth Walsh, PhD (Vanderbilt), Yvette Coulter (UCSF)

Description and Significance: This project will incorporate Health Equity, Anti-Racism, and DEIA frameworks into the Osher Collaborative Faculty Fellowship (OCFF) curriculum and across the broader Collaborative. Through training and practical tools, we will empower educators to integrate these frameworks into their own curriculum development and teaching, ensuring long-term sustainability across institutions. To achieve this, we will develop a comprehensive training program and toolkit that leverages the strengths of theIHEART tool (led by Vinny Minichiello, MD), the IHE toolkit (led by Marliese Warren, MS), and expert guidance from an external consultant specializing in instructional design, DEIA, and health equity

To ensure practical application, the Curriculum Transformation Lab will offer interested OCFF speakers mentorship and hands-on support with our outside expert. This process will help refine presentations and course materials, embedding these frameworks into teaching practices and ensuring their long-term impact beyond the consultant’s involvement.

Innovation: This is a first-of-its-kind offering for the Osher Collaborative—applying these frameworks specifically to education. This initiative ensures comprehensive and sustainable integration of DEIA, health equity, and anti-oppression principles through:

• Expert-Led Training Development – The consultant will collaborate with our key team members (Vinny Minichiello, MD, Marliese Warren, MS) to design a training open to all Osher Collaborative members.

• Toolkit & Frameworks – The training will incorporate the IHEART framework and IHE toolkit to guide educators in evaluating and revising curricula with a health equity lens. They will receive a toolkit to support curriculum refinement and development, ensuring tangible resources for ongoing application.

• Curriculum Transformation Lab – Following the training, selected members who are speakers for the OCFF will participate in a small group mentorship program, receiving hands-on guidance from the consultant to adapt and update their presentations and curriculum materials to reflect DEIA, health equity, and anti-oppression principles.

Impact: This initiative will not only impact the OCFF’s speakers and learners but will also extend to each center’s learners through new and revised curricula. Incorporating enduring materials ensures long-term sustainability and the ability to influence their wider departments and institutions.

Collaboration: This project is a cross-institutional and interdisciplinary effort, including Osher Centers at UCSF, Oakland Children’s Hospital, Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin, and Vanderbilt. Team members bring expertise in pediatrics, oncology, women’s health, family medicine, education, and psychology.  Additionally, we will work with an outside consultant, which will further strengthen our breadth of expertise.  We recognize the value of fostering expertise within the Collaborative. However, given the complexity of integrating Health Equity frameworks with Educational Instructional Design best practices, we believe that partnering with an external expert specializing in both areas will provide the necessary structure and depth for this initiative. Their role would be to guide the process, provide targeted training, and help establish a sustainable framework that our team can continue to refine and implement beyond the grant period. By engaging an external expert, we aim to bring fresh insights that strengthen the inclusivity and impact of our curriculum.

Feasibility, Goals & Timeline

This project is structured for completion by June 30, 2026. The timeline includes:

Step 1: Consultation and Design of Training Program (Months 1-6)

• Consultant reviews representative samples of fellowship content to get a sense of our content and training goals.

• Consultant collaborates with key members to design online training and finalize toolkits. 

Step 2: Conducting the Training (Month 7)

• Conduct a pre-training assessment of members to assess their comfort with integrative health equity.

• All Osher Collaborative members are invited to participate in training and receive the toolkit.

• Conduct post-survey to assess changes in comfort, acceptability

Step 3: Curriculum Transformation Lab (Months 8-12)

• OC Faculty Fellowship speakers will participate in small group mentorship to apply DEIA, health equity, and anti-oppression principles to their modules and presentations. 

Total Budget Requested:

Budget rationale:

We are asking for  $29,343.14  to support the efforts of the external consultant and three funded project team members.

External consultant: will be responsible for training design and curriculum review, training facilitation and preparation, curriculum transformation lab mentorship, and post-training assessment and reporting.

Project lead: will handle project coordination, stakeholder communication, budgeting, reporting, and administrative tasks.

Two key team members: will receive funding to work directly with the external consultant on training content development and toolkit finalization.