Michelle van Ryn, PhD, MPH (pronouns: she/her) is a dynamic, inspiring, and compassionate speaker. Her deep commitment to making a difference and truly accelerating progress by translating scientific evidence into practical and effective approaches shines through everything she does. She formed Humanitas Institute (formerly Diversity Science) to support providers, clinicians and organizations in providing exceptional care to diverse patients. Past or current clients include Boston Scientific Close the Gap, Health Care Association of New York, Kaiser-Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Park Nicollet Health Care System, the Minnesota Department of Health, Children’s Hospital of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota Medical School, and the National Association of Emergency Physicians. Her work aims to translate the best current evidence into practical and effective approaches for achieving true equity, and deep diversity and inclusion. She is recently retired from the Grace Phelps Distinguished Endowed Professorship at the Oregon Health & Science University. She moved to that position after serving as the Director of the Research Program on Equity & Inclusion in Healthcare at while a Professor at Mayo Medical School in Rochester.
Dr. van Ryn’s research focused primarily on the way “invisible actors,” such as implicit (unconscious) biases, inter-group anxiety, and stereotype threat affect social interaction processes and decision-making. . Dr. van Ryn is the Principal Investigator in an ongoing, NIH R01-funded, national study of changes in attitudes that affect disparities in care, including unconscious biases, experienced by medical trainees over the course of their medical school and residency. In addition, she is the scientific director of a healthcare system-wide Diversity Climate Assessment with over 30,000 participants. Her work has improved the national awareness of how providers contribute to disparities in patient care and has led to greater understanding of how improved healthcare encounters positively impact patient outcomes. She has provided evidence-driven training to dozens of organizations, has been invited to give over 75 presentations on her research, both nationally and abroad, and she has authored over 120 journal articles, abstracts, and other written publications. Dr. van Ryn has received several awards and honors for her work. She served as a standing grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health Social Psychology and Individual Personality Study Section and has served as an ad hoc reviewer numerous times for a variety of initiatives at the National Institutes of Health.
- Brief video on implicit (unconscious, automatic) bias in healthcare encounters
- 5 minute talk IGNITE! talk on the way implicit biases affect emotional empathy to create a barrier to deep motivation for change.
On the Web
- Stereotyped to Death
- Minorities, poor receive fewer strong painkillers
- Targeting Unconscious Bias in Health Care
- Fighting the subconscious biases that lead to health care disparities
- Race and Bias from the Classroom to the Exam Room
- We will not realize the American dream’ until racism in health care changes
- Researching unconscious bias in healthcare
- Discrimination in Healthcare
- Protecting Yourself and Others from Stereotype Threat
- Working towards health equity and the lies we tell ourselves
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