Stritch Professor Receives Bioethics Award for Immigrant Advocacy

The 2023 Award for Bioethics Service in the Face of Challenges from the International Association of Bioethics was awarded to Loyola Stritch School of Medicine professor Dr. Mark Kuczewski Dec. 1 for his work advocating for the rights of undocumented immigrants in the American healthcare system.

The award is given out to an individual who has made continuous efforts over a prolonged period of time to advance bioethics in spite of obstacles, according to the IAB website. Bioethics is the study of social and ethical issues in biomedicine. 

The recipient must be nominated by a member of the International Association of Bioethics before being considered by the association’s board of directors to win, according to their website. The award includes a $500 prize.

Kuczewski said he was hired by Loyola in 2000 to be the founding director of the Neiswanger Institute of Bioethics, a position he still holds. The Neiswanger Institute of Bioethics is a multidisciplinary program which incorporates the Roman Catholic Jesuit tradition of social justice into the Stritch School of Medicine through teaching, research and service, according to the institute’s website. 

At the International Association of Bioethics Award Ceremony held remotely on Dec. 1, Kuczewski said he chose to accept his award on behalf of Loyola and the Stritch School of Medicine because he believes one person doesn’t make change without the efforts of a community.

“It’s just a bright shining example for the country of what can be accomplished when people just open up their minds and hearts a little bit and don’t think in terms of fear and what people are taking from them,” Kuczewski said.

Kuczweski said he received the award mainly because of his roles in opening the conversation about the bioethics issue of undocumented immigrants and creating policy in the Stritch School of Medicine that allows Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy recipients to attend medical school at Loyola. He also received it for co-developing the Sanctuary Doctoring program with partners Dr. Amy Blair and Dr. Johana Mejias-Beck.  

Loyola was one of the first medical schools in the country to openly say it welcomed applications from DACA recipients shortly after former President Barack Obama announced the policy, according to Kuczewski. DACA allowed certain undocumented individuals to be eligible for deferred deportation action under the condition that they arrived in the United States as children, according to the United States Citizen and Immigration Services.

The first group of DACA recipients entered Stritch in July 2014 after the school changed its application eligibility requirements to include DACA recipients in 2012, according to Kuczewski. 

Since 2014, Stritch has enrolled 51 DACA recipients into the medical school and has graduated 38 students, according to Kuczewski, who said many graduates are now attending physicians working to help underserved communities. 

“We want to recognize that again, people are people, immigrants are immigrants,” Kuczewski said. “They’re tremendous assets, just as they’ve always been to the United States. It’s actually the secret of our success.” 

Mejias-Beck graduated from the Stritch School of Medicine in 2018 in the first graduating group of DACA recipients from the school. She said attending medical school was life changing and career defining for her. 

“For the first time in my life as an undocumented individual, I was seen for my efforts and not because of my status,” Mejias-Beck said.

Mejias-Beck  said she now works as an internal medicine and pediatric attending physician at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Since graduating, Mejias-Beck said she gained citizenship in the U.S. but her journey as an undocumented individual remains a helpful tool in understanding the individual problems of her undocumented patients. 

The Sanctuary Doctoring program — created by Kuczewski, Mejias-Beck and Blair — is an approach to doctoring where physicians provide resources to help undocumented immigrants who fear going to the doctor feel safe, according to Kuczewski. 

“In 2016, when the political climate changed rather dramatically, a lot of undocumented patients were very afraid of being in public spaces for fear of being picked up and deported,” Kuczewski said. “They were very afraid of official-looking people because they don’t know how that all fits together. How does going into your hospital fit with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Do they share information?”

Non-citizens residing in the United States could be detained and deported if they violate immigration law by participating in criminal activity, are a threat to public safety or violate their visa, according to USA.gov.

Mejias-Beck said the idea of Sanctuary Doctoring program sparked during an assignment for the Bioethics Honors program at Stritch where she was tasked with addressing some kind of social determinants of health.

The program resulted in the creation of various training resources, found on its website, outlining how doctors should interact with undocumented individuals, according to Blair. It also led to the creation of a flier physicians can give their patients detailing medical, educational and legal resources helpful to an undocumented patients, according to Kuczewski. 

Blair said one of her main motivators in her career has been increasing access to health care for individuals who face any type of barrier, which is why she has worked closely with Kuczewski. 

“There are all sorts of ways beyond what he publishes and presents on that he’s an advocate that show his true and genuine care for the community beyond any sort of academic endeavor,” Blair said. “He truly cares.” 

Outside of the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola accepts applications from undocumented students and DACA recipients and considers them without regard to immigration status, according to Loyola spokesperson Matt McDermott. He said though undocumented students aren’t considered for financial aid, they are considered for merit-based scholarships. 

Kuczewski said the best avenue for further change and fairness for undocumented immigrants is policy change.

“We need Congress to say, ‘These young people came here as youths, they have grown up here,’” Kuczewski said. “They are Americans in every way but on paper, they are assets to our country, and we need to give them a pathway to citizenship.” 

Kuczewski said he believes the narrative about undocumented immigrants and immigrants in general needs to change in America. He said he believes immigrant arrivals should be celebrated for their profound impact on the economy and culture of communities.

Mejias-Beck said she believes the best way to improve the medical field is to diversify it with more physicians who look like their patients and increasing representation. 

“I think young individuals that are undocumented that want to be in medicine, that is just like a huge asset to the medical field,” Mejias-Beck said. “They bring a whole different perspective and a different level of ability to care for a marginalized community that I don’t think you can find in very many other medical applicants.”

Kuczewski is a trailblazer for immigrant healthcare curriculum, according to Mejias-Beck, who said his efforts at Stritch have changed the trajectory of her career.

“I can’t say enough about how futuristic his vision for healthcare is,” Mejias-Beck said. “And it’s just wonderful to be able to be a part of that.”

Featured image by Holden Green / The Phoenix