Meet Doug Booth
Tell us a little about your professional background
I have always worked to improve the organizations that I was a part of. While attending grad school at the University of Denver, I held multiple positions. I worked with international students in the Student Financial Services department where I assisted in the reworking of their orientation to the school, and Denver. I also worked as a department manager for the Political Science, Gender & Women’s Studies, and the Socio-legal studies departments. I like to say that my job was everything that doesn’t involve teaching. Budgets, schedules, faculty grant administration, student workers, etc. The list can go on forever.
On top of this, I was also working in a consultant role for the LGBT Center as a health educator. Within this function, I assisted in the development of a training program for physicians and medical practices to be more inclusive and equitable with how they treat their patients, specifically LGBTQIA+ patients. My thesis work was looking at LGB access and utilization of primary care services in the Denver region, so I saw many of the barriers to care that many in the LGBTQIA community face. We would evaluate their practice, then propose changes and provide training to ensure that all patients have equity in the health system. This program is still in effect today.
After returning to Grand Rapids, I worked as an operations manager for a small medical practice. I helped to create the administrative framework that all practices need and was still missing. Within this practice, we worked closely with many of the assisted living facilities around West Michigan. The physician would travel to each of the homes once per week to treat patients where they live. Knowing that transportation is a large barrier to care for the geriatric population, I was excited about this model of care and the potential that it presents.
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