Willis Named Competency 6 Director

Deanna R. Willis, M.D., M.B.A., Assistant Professor of Family Medicine; Director of Affiliate Faculty, Department of Family Medicine; and Medical Director of Quality and Medical Management, IU Medical Group, has been named director of Competency 6, the Social and Community Contexts of Health Care.

Dr. Willis’ experience in a variety of settings – from an affluent suburban private practice to an underserved inner city community health center – has enabled her to accumulate a broad repertoire of skills in the social and community contexts of medicine.

Passionate about instilling empathy in learners for patients from backgrounds and cultures dissimilar to their own, Dr. Willis has been active in curricular activities addressing healthcare disparities and underserved populations. She developed one of the first undergraduate courses at IUSM, “Service Learning in the Medical Setting for Pre-professional Students,” focusing on giving students an appreciation of medicine’s concern to serve the underserved and individuals from multiple cultures. Since the first offering of this course in 2003, more than 100 undergraduate students have contributed their skills to medically underserved communities.

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