In this episode, Dr. Kristi Kirschner, a physician, educator, and leader in disability-inclusive healthcare, whose career began the same year as the Americans with Disabilities Act became law shares that even more than 30 years later, the promise of that moment still feels unfulfilled. Healthcare continues to lag behind other systems in accessibility and widespread ableism prevents patients from receiving the care they deserve.

Dr. Kirschner shares a bold vision for change rooted in education, partnership, and reimagining the role of healthcare itself. From training the next generation of clinicians to building a lifespan disability clinic which elevates the voices of people with lived experience, this episode explores what it takes to move from compliance to true inclusion. The University of Illinois Health Lifespan Disability Clinic, offers comprehensive, disability-inclusive primary care for both children and adults with a wide range of physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities, including complex, multifaceted conditions.

Listen to witness the power of reframing because disability is not a limitation, it is a lens for innovation, creativity, and a more humane, interconnected world. This is a conversation about dignity, design, and the future of care, and why getting it right matters for all of us.

Learn more about the UI Health Lifespan Disability Clinic https://hospital.uillinois.edu/primary-and-specialty-care/disability-inclusive-care

Explore their website to access their resources: https://adih.uic.edu/

• (00:00:03) - Coming soon: Disability in the World
• (00:00:48) - Advocates in Action: Equity and Inclusion in Healthcare
• (00:07:11) - The role of health professionals with disabilities
• (00:16:18) - The Disability Inclusive Health Care
• (00:24:39) - Living with Disabilities in 2026
• (00:34:29) - Advocates in Action: Week 3

In this episode, Dr. Ann Cheney shares about Unidas por Salud, a community–academic partnership made up of community members, students, and academics working together to advance health equity in underserved communities. This women-led group is transforming care in the Eastern Coachella Valley, where environmental hazards and structural inequity are reducing the quality of health outcomes.

Through community-based participatory research, student-led clinics, culturally rooted care, and innovative programs like a medical Spanish curriculum and ancestral nutrition initiatives, this team reveals what happens when research is done in partnership with communities, not on them.

We also explore the hard decisions behind ethical leadership, what it means to walk away from funding when trust is compromised, how to share power authentically, and why being an “outsider” requires humility, accountability, and invitation. In the face of policy shifts, fear-driven public health crises, and real-time community needs, you’ll hear a moving example of what responsive care looks like when systems fall short.

Listen to this conversation about hope found in students who carry the mission forward, in communities who open their doors, and in a model of care that refuses to leave anyone behind.

Explore their website to learn more about their work: https://www.unidasporsalud.com

• (00:00:03) - Advocates in Action: When Equity and Inclusion in Health
• (00:01:35) - Community based participatory research in the Coachella Valley
• (00:12:32) - The BLAMOS Clinic in the Coachella Valley
• (00:15:00) - Mentees of the Medical Student Program
• (00:17:23) - The role of shared leadership in science
• (00:24:48) - Advocates in Action: The Coachella Valley Free Clinic

Dr. Philip M. Alberti joins host Ashley D. Freeman to explore how we can “hold the line” and defend equity in healthcare—while challenging the false narrative that some communities must lose for others to thrive. Drawing from his recent Milbank Quarterly article “Health Equity Benefits All Communities—Including White Ones,” Dr. Alberti unpacks how language, measurement, storytelling, and belonging can help reframe health equity as a universal good. He shares practical ways to bridge divides, build cross-racial coalitions, and strengthen our collective “civic muscle” to drive long-term change from the ground up. With honesty, insight, and hope, Dr. Alberti reminds us that health equity is not a zero-sum game—it’s about creating fair and just opportunities for everyone, and it begins with listening, empathy, and local action. This episode will leave you inspired to see yourself as part of the movement for health justice.