- Describe clinician role in advocacy
- Describe steps towards planning advocacy
- Describe how the steps for planning advocacy led to policy change using a case example
- Identify and engage stakeholders/allies
Lilia Cervantes, MD
Associate Professor
Department of Medicine & Office of Research, Denver Health
Dr. Cervantes received her undergraduate degree at CU Boulder and completed both her medical degree and internal medicine residency at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her background as a first generation Latina inspired her deep commitment to becoming a physician as well as her community service, advocacy, and research focused on promoting social justice in medical education and care. Dr. Cervantes has worked for over 12 years as an internal medicine hospitalist at Denver Health, the safety-net hospital, and has dedicated her career to creating a healthcare workforce that is diverse as well as conducting research to improve person-centered and clinical outcomes among Latinx patients on dialysis. The catalyst for her interest in improving outcomes for Latinx patients with chronic kidney disease was a former undocumented Latina patient with kidney failure who struggled with emergency dialysis (dialysis in the emergency department when critically ill) and ultimately died. Funded by the RWJF and the Doris Duke Foundation, Dr. Cervantes discovered the worse outcomes of undocumented immigrants who rely only on emergency dialysis. In 2019, as a result of Dr. Cervantes’ research and stakeholder engagement, Colorado Medicaid opted to include the diagnosis of kidney failure as a qualifying condition under Emergency Medicaid thereby expanding access to standard dialysis. In addition to her work with the undocumented kidney failure community, Dr. Cervantes is developing culturally tailored interventions that will address the social challenges faced by documented Latinx patients with chronic kidney disease.