Spotlights
Dr. Stephanie Smooke Praw grew up in Los Angeles and the UCLA Department of Medicine has been her work home for more than 20 years. She describes her commitment to education and service to the community as the highest priorities in her family. "My sister and I were encouraged to challenge ourselves and to be intellectually curious. I was heavily influenced by my maternal grandmother who gave up her dream of going to college to earn money to help pay her brother’s college and architecture graduate school tuition. When I started medical school, she proudly bought me my first stethoscope. Using it was a constant reminder not to forsake any opportunity and to be grateful for the people, especially the women, who came before me and supported me. I am constantly reminded that is a privilege to have an education and to practice medicine."
“My path to endocrinology was not straightforward. I did not come into medical school thinking I would be an adult endocrinologist,” says Dr. Smooke Praw, who arrived at medical school with an undergraduate degree in History of Art and a Master's Degree in Japanese Art History and the intention to become a pediatrician. She discovered and fell in love with endocrinology in her fourth year of medical school at UCLA. Dr. Smooke Praw explored her interest in art history as an undergraduate student. This may seem unorthodox, but she says science and art have much in common. “Both require keen observation skills and an understanding of the culture and social determinants that influence either someone’s health in the context of medicine or the art they produce,” she says.
She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at UCLA followed by a year as Chief Resident before commencing her fellowship in Endocrinology. She joined the UCLA clinical faculty in 2009. As a member of the UCLA clinical faculty, she began as a clinician and then added roles as Fellowship Program Director and most recently, Interim Clinical Chief in the Division of Endocrinology. “The challenges of practicing endocrinology are also some of the rewards,” she says. “Helping a patient get to the root of their symptoms can be tough but gratifying.”
When she’s not seeing patients, Dr. Smooke Praw spends her time doing educational activities with fellows, running the fellowship program, directing a lecture series, and co-chairing a multidisciplinary tumor board. Her administrative duties include working on access issues, making clinical practices run more smoothly, and recruiting new faculty.
“I really enjoy the variety of activities that make up my days and my weeks,” she says. “But helping fellows and junior faculty achieve their potential as physicians is definitely a highlight.”
“I really enjoy the variety of activities that make up my days and my weeks,” she says. “But helping fellows and junior faculty achieve their potential as physicians is definitely a highlight.”
In these roles, it is now her privilege to help support other women in medicine. She is proud to serve as a mentor in the internal medicine residency program and to help her fellows reach their potential in the practice of medicine. “The most important lesson I have learned is that there is not a finite number of spaces available for women in medicine and leadership, there are lots of seats at the table, and we should continue to make room for more.”
As a parent of young children, Dr. Smooke Praw developed a strong interest in EDI work because she wanted her children to grow up with a commitment to and understanding of their community. It is well known that we all benefit from being members of a diverse community. She helped to develop an EDI committee as a trustee at her children’s school and then began to use the same lens to look at her work environment. Along with a national group of endocrine program directors, she helped to develop a case-based curriculum on health equity that is now taught in fellowship programs across the country. Continuing the theme of diversifying and strengthening our pipeline, let me bring your attention to a recent publication in the Journal Endocrine Practice, by Dr. Stephanie Smooke Praw in the UCLA Division of Endocrinology entitled: "An Assessment of Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity Training in Endocrinology Fellowship Programs in the United States." This publication highlights the development of a national health equity curriculum for endocrine fellows led by Dr. Smooke Praw and other program directors from the Association of Program Directors in Endocrine and Metabolism (APDEM).
The curriculum was developed based on a national cross-sectional survey study of endocrinology program directors and fellows aimed at understanding the demographic makeup of endocrinology programs across the country and gauging respondents' exposure to/interest in a health equity curriculum. The survey showed that most faculty received EDI training at their current institutions and that fellows were most likely to have undergone training in health, equity, and social determinants of health.
However, faculty and fellows surveyed expressed great interest in learning more about health equity and how it impacts the care of their patient population. Therefore, Dr. Smooke Praw and colleagues created a curriculum that focused on addressing key gaps in knowledge related to addressing social determinants of health, and methods to advance health equity.
The curriculum is taught in terms of three cases: diabetes, obesity, and patient complications after thyroid surgery. The cases include questions, objectives, and guidance on how to engage in discussions with patients based on the type of case. The curriculum is now part of the APDEM website and can be accessed by any program director for use in their institutional training programs.
As the program director of the endocrinology fellowship program, Dr. Smooke Praw introduced this curriculum to UCLA Health by incorporating it into the endocrinology fellowship and other teaching modules across different specialties throughout the UCLA Health Graduate Medical Education Programs. Our former STAR fellow, Dr. Hugo Torres, who completed a PhD in health services research, now joins her in teaching this material.
She is most proud of the impact that her daughters are making in their community through volunteering at Camp Harmony, a sleep-away camp and year-round program for children experiencing poverty. The program is designed to help children develop positive self-esteem and empower them to stay in school and dream big. Camp provides underserved children a respite from the tensions of their daily lives and a chance to play. Through interaction with the Los Angeles high school students who serve as counselors, the campers build relationships and self-esteem. Dr. Smooke Praw does not take for granted her daughter’s commitment to making the world whole through Tikkun Olam.
