December 1, 2023—STFM Member Victoria Udezi, MD, MPH, of Dallas, Texas, has been awarded the Texas Academy of Family Physicians Diversity and Health Equity Leadership Award. Udezi received the award during TAFP’s Annual Session and Primary Care Summit in Grapevine on Nov. 11. The award honors physicians who advocate for health equity, encourage increased representation from groups historically underrepresented in medicine, or promote inclusivity in health care settings and organized medicine.

Udezi is the assistant program director of the Community Medicine Fellowship at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas and recently served as UT Southwestern’s director of Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Family and Community Medicine. She also co-directs the community health rotation, the Health Equity Advocacy and Research Training Track, and the Global Health Track.

Udezi is a strong advocate for health equity through education, scholarship, and community engagement, mentoring trainees on projects that advance health equity. Under her DEI leadership and through departmental and community collaborations, the department has implemented bias trainings, revision of recruitment efforts, an annual department anti-racism challenge, and more. She lectures on topics like addressing health inequities, social determinants of health, implications of race-based algorithms, imposter syndrome, and human trafficking.

Family physicians like Udezi are qualified to work in all major medical areas and trained to treat more than 90% of all cases they encounter. Family physicians care for patients of all ages.