Diversity Leadership
Hoda Farajpour Bakhtiari, MD, is the Assistant Program Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She grew up in Tehran, Iran where she completed her medical training at Shahid Beheshti Medical University by the hills of Alborz mountain range. She moved to Colorado in 2015 to pursue graduate medical training. Before residency, she worked as a clinical researcher in the Department of Endocrinology at the University of Colorado. She completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Colorado in 2022 and joined the Hospital Medicine group at Denver Health. Hoda lives in Centennial with her husband, two sons, and their dog, Sugar. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, going to live performances in Denver (ballet, symphony orchestra, musical theater), having friends over for Persian food and treats, and taking care of her expanding orchid collection.
Amira del Pino-Jones, MD, serves as the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the School of Medicine. She was born and raised in Colorado, and after attending the University of Colorado at Boulder for undergrad, she completed medical school, her internship, and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado. As a graduate of the Hospitalist Training Track, Dr. del Pino-Jones now practices inpatient medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital. When she is not seeing patients, she dedicates much of her time to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts within the Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, and School of Medicine. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, going to the theater, and golfing.
Sonia Flores, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine and Vice Chair (VC) for Diversity and Justice in the Department of Medicine (DOM) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She graduated with a BS in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico and subsequently received her PhD at the University of South Alabama in 1988. Her project focused on genomic plasticity of mammalian tissues as a function of aging. For the past 25 years, her research is focused on pulmonary complications of HIV infection, for which she has been continuously funded by NHLBI. She also developed research education pipeline programs including an NHLBI-supported training program, funded since 2000, called Graduate Experiences for Multicultural Students providing summer research experiences for students from minoritized communities. She is the contact PI of 1/9 NHLBI PRIDE (Programs to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research) programs. The Colorado program focuses on the Impact of Ancestry and Gender on omics of lung diseases. (AGOLD).
Dr. Flores has mentored high school, undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty; all of her post-doctoral mentees have obtained their own K-awards. As VC of Diversity and Justice, she developed bias workshops for interns, residents, staff and faculty; drafted a policy for equity in departmental committees and brought the University of Wisconsin Bias Reduction in Internal Medicine program to campus. Dr. Flores is truly passionate about building and implementing programs that support diversity and inclusion and enhance career development and educational prospects.
Regina Richards, PhD, MSW, has over 20 years of experience in academia as a business professional, educator, social worker, and diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) thought leader in the triplex systems of the CU School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital Colorado and CU Medicine (formerly UPI).
As vice chancellor of the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement (ODEICE) for the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, Dr. Richards is leading a team to develop campuswide DEI initiatives, which include key performance indicators as a system of accountability. She has created the Chancellor’s DEICE Leadership Council utilizing the practice of shared governance in decision-making for this committee, engaged in partnerships with campus leaders and key stakeholder groups to strengthen guidelines for lactation practices and gender-neutral bathrooms on our campus, as well as engages in partnerships with local nonprofit organizations and efforts to strengthen trusted ties with community stakeholders and constituents.
Previous to her current appointment, Dr. Richards was the inaugural director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the CU School of Medicine. The DEI work there included creating and developing programming, policies, education and trainings, and processes that span from the student pipeline to community engagement endeavors.
Her partnerships across the CU School of Medicine over the past 12 years has assisted in consistently diversifying and retaining highly qualified students, faculty, staff and trainees, who are also from very diverse backgrounds. When asked: what drove you to the medical profession and your specific specialty, her response is: “The hope that access to quality healthcare and high-quality education someday becomes a 'basic human right for ALL. The CU Anschutz Medical Campus is transformative, and through developing relationships and partnerships afforded the privilege and opportunities to align my profession with the overall mission of our campus.” #THISISBREAKTHROUGH!
While in her role as director of the CU School of Medicine Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Richards co-authored with Dr. Steven Lowenstein the 2015 CU School of Medicine Diversity Plan, which outlined 104 recommendations that focused on creating programs, policies, practices and process in the mission-focused areas of education, clinical care, research and community engagement. A recent audit of the completion of those recommendations resulted in 94 of 104 recommendations being completed with measurable data to support those findings. This demonstrates the impact of partnership, supportive leadership and collaboration. “Human capital is one of our greatest assets."
Regina received her doctoral degree in social work and higher education from Colorado State University, a master’s degree in social work with a concentration in community and leadership development from the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, and her bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of Phoenix.
Jacqueline Ward-Gaines, MD is an Assistant Professor and Emergency Medicine physician at the University of Colorado Hospital. As Director of Graduate Medical Education (GME) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Dr. Ward-Gaines oversees GME DEI programming, including education, recruitment, and support of residents and fellows in our programs, and also assists with DEI efforts and initiatives in our Graduate Programs.