Akeyla Brown, DDS, is an oral surgeon and was recently named the first clinical director for diversity, equity and inclusion and community engagement for Hackensack, N.J.-based Max Surgical Specialty Management.
She connected with Becker's to speak about how the new role came to be and how she plans to be a force of positive change with the position.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How did you end up in the role of DEI clinical director at the organization, and what led you to accept the role?
Dr. Akeyla Brown: I attended a DSO event panel recently, and I was looking at the panel and I didn’t see much diversity in the presenters and a lot of them were holding positions with DSOs and they were dentists who had also executive positions. I showed Dr. Auerbach a photo of the panelists and I said that this is an issue and I don't know if everyone had a seat at that table, what do you think we could do about that? He shot the question back at me, asking me what I thought I could do about it. So then he, myself and Susan Coe got together and said maybe we should have something in our organization that can focus on diversity, equity and inclusion and they asked me to be the clinical director of that and I accepted.
Q: What different perspectives will you bring to the table that will guide your decisions?
AB: As an African-American female, I think I have a different perspective right there. If you look at the profession, it's a marginalized group. Only 3.8% of practicing dentists are African American and less than 6% are Hispanic. I definitely think that being a minority is going to give me a different perspective on the oral surgery industry and our company, and I think that it will help me to navigate this role. I think I can understand how a majority of staff that also comes from a minority feels in the workplace, so I think having that perspective will be a plus.
Q: What are some goals or things you hope to accomplish, and how do you plan to turn those aspirations into action plans?
AB: We want more surgeons of color in our practices and at every practice. We want surgeons with more diverse backgrounds to treat a more diverse patient population. It’s not necessary that you and your surgeon are the same race, but it is nice to visit a practice that is accepting of everyone at every level of that practice. We're going to have initiatives to reach out to HBCUs and diverse residency programs to recruit diverse residents into our practices and also reach out to diverse practice owners to partner with them.
Q: How do you plan to balance your clinical work as an oral surgeon alongside your new role?
AB: It's never a balance, right? There's always a sacrifice. You pick one thing up and then put another thing down. I have a great team working with me. When I need to put something down, my team is definitely there to help me. I think that when you're passionate about something, it's easy to incorporate it in your day-to-day and we'll just have to make the time. I've always been very good at multitasking and completing many tasks at the same time, and that's just something you have to do. I'm definitely going to dedicate the hours necessary to the role to make it fruitful and I'm definitely going to continue the hours necessary to make sure my patients are healthy and happy.