Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld wants to make Wisconsin the healthiest state in the nation. It’s an ambitious goal, but the Milwaukee-based anesthesiologist has two high-powered perches from which to pursue it: president of the American Medical Association and director of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
On top of those two demanding roles, he continues to see patients one day a week. And he always makes it home for bedtime with his husband and their two sons.
Ehrenfeld is the AMA’s first openly gay president, which he sees as an opportunity to act as an advocate for LGBTQ+ patients and physicians. In 2019, the Navy combat veteran testified to the House Armed Services Committee, arguing that there was no medical foundation for banning transgender people from active military service, a policy enacted by former President Donald Trump and later reversed.
Health equity is at the very center of all of Ehrenfeld’s work – including the core mission of Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin. From figuring out how to meet the needs of rural patients without local hospitals, to addressing physician and medication shortages and dismantling systemic racism within the AMA itself, the doctor has his work cut out for him.
Dr. Ugwuji Maduekwe, deputy director of Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin, believes Ehrenfeld is on the right track. “It’s easy to say that people just don’t trust the health care system,” Maduekwe said. “In Milwaukee, there are a lot of reasons for patients, especially Black patients, to be distrustful. So some doctors may throw up their hands and say, ‘What can we do?’ But the AMA is not taking that approach.”
To address these issues, Ehrenfeld and his team at AHW compiled an equity strategy plan with measurable goals to disrupt health care deserts, remove discriminatory policies that exclude many from clinical trials, apply an intersectional lens to technology development and regain the trust of historically underserved communities.
Of all his professional triumphs, Ehrenfeld singles out co-founding the LGBTQ+ health program at Vanderbilt University – only the second in the nation. “I joked that we were going to shame our colleagues into following suit, and now the AMA foundation sponsors fellowships in LGBTQ+ health,” he says. “It’s just amazing to see what’s become of the seeds I have planted across the country.”
Still, he’s a doctor at heart. “There is nothing better than watching a patient walk out of the hospital without a tumor,” Ehrenfeld said with a big smile. “I have a lot of jobs, but I could never quit practicing medicine because the connections I make are foundational to everything else I do.”
Today, conversations about artificial intelligence are more urgent than ever. Ehrenfeld, who believes biomedical AI will assist doctors rather than replace them, highlighted one drawback and one bright spot:
Programmed Bias
That clip on your finger to read your blood oxygen level isn’t perfect. A dark skin tone or nail polish, can throw off the reading. Ehrenfeld says it’s likely inadequately diverse samples were used when developing and testing the device. Those readings are fed into algorithms used to guide hospital decisions, which could skew the data toward a biased result.
Accessibility and Efficiency
There aren’t enough ophthalmologists to conveniently screen all of the diabetic patients who require yearly eye exams. AI can eliminate thousands of routine screenings using eye scan kiosks which can be placed in any pharmacy and provide nearly instant results. Research suggests they may help close care gaps for many who can’t see a doctor regularly.
