In recognition of his outstanding efforts to support students from underserved backgrounds, UC Davis Health thoracic surgeon Luis Armando Godoy, M.D., has been awarded The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Herbert W. Nickens Faculty Fellowship.
The award recognizes an outstanding faculty member who demonstrates leadership potential in addressing inequity in medical education and health care, shows efforts in addressing educational, societal and health care needs of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., and is committed to a career in academic medicine.
Godoy’s path to medicine has been filled with adversities. An immigrant from a small Mexican village, he went from a farmworker picking stone fruit alongside his parents to working as an assistant professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine. His experiences along the way, including becoming a father while in high school, helped to shape his desire to fight inequities and promote diversity in medicine.
Godoy is now an assistant professor of thoracic surgery and the diversity and inclusion director in the Department of Surgery, and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Internal Medicine and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Godoy believes that diversity in the medical field is a matter of health and well-being. For this reason, he has proudly served as a mentor to undergraduate students, especially first-generation college students — the first to go to college in their families — and those from disadvantaged communities.
“The only way we can provide adequate care to patients of all backgrounds is to educate ourselves on different cultures and health issues, both through training, exposure and education,” Godoy said. “We also know that a diverse medical workforce leads to better patient care, outcomes and trainee education.”
He was actively involved in the inception and support of Preparando Estudiantes Para Ser Medicos (or Prep Médico), a summer program for premedical and medical students that provides scholarships, mentorship, internships, residential programs, volunteer opportunities and hands-on clinical experiences.
In 2021 Godoy also co-founded the nonprofit organization PreMedCC.org, an online community that hosts weekly events for pre-medical students attending California community colleges. These colleges serve about 2.5 million students a year, 76% of whom are ethnic minorities.
Godoy has also worked with the UCLA Center for Community College Partnership, which helps community college transfer students prepare academically, especially those who are first-generation, low-income and from underrepresented communities.
The Nickens Faculty Fellowship includes a $25,000 grant to support a project in the U.S. to support racial and ethnic minorities. Godoy plans to implement a comprehensive program that he hopes will strengthen the pipeline of medical students from underrepresented communities, by giving students and trainees more exposure to the surgical field and by promoting a climate of inclusion for current surgical residents by incorporating discussions about surgical practice, health care disparities and social justice into training.
