Efe Chantal Ghanney Simons, MD

Hello! I am incredibly thrilled to be part of UCLA’s inaugural MHO board. For as long as I can remember, creating access for those who have not historically had a seat at the table has been a driving force in my life and the MHO Pipeline and Recruitment Committee allows me to bring that passion to life here at UCLA.

I grew up on the sunny coast of Ghana, and came to the United States to attend Yale University where I double-majored in Chemistry and French. I then went on to medical school at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. While at Sinai, I created several global health projects, including an international palliative care research project, that took place in my home country of Ghana and the African Research Academies for Women, a fully-funded research internship for women in universities on the African continent.

I came to UCLA in 2017 for urology residency and had grand plans to spend my 4th year (research year) building programs in Ghana, Uganda and Senegal but alas COVID hit and all my plans (and funding) went out the window. It was at that point that I decided to pivot from a global stage to focusing on very pressing local needs, here in our own backyard - to strive to promote justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in both the urology workforce as well as in the delivery of healthcare to marginalized patient populations.

My research interests include health professional trainee assessment, historical and contemporary trends in medical education, academic leadership and the under representation of minorities in academic medicine. My collection of research projects under the umbrella title, “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Urology Workforce: Strengthening the Pipeline,” critically examine every step of the succession from medical student to practicing urologist, to determine the factors that positively and negatively influence the decision to choose urology, access to the field of medicine at large but urology in particular, and career advancement for Under-Represented in Medicine (URiMs). These studies provide the historical and current context, produce data from ongoing baseline assessment of racial-ethnic diversity in urology, and provide recommendations for best recruitment and retention practices.

Most importantly, if you are looking for someone to go salsa dancing with, I am 100% your lady!