Seth Politano, DO, FACP
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Los Angeles, CA
Seth originally grew up in New York in a socioeconomically disadvantaged community. From a young age, he saw the importance of how many factors (racial background, ability to pay, etc) affected access to health care. This was his initial drive to become a physician – to help those similar to himself, his family, and others whose health care access was limited. Despite this, Seth was privileged to be raised in a diverse community where he appreciated and learned about different cultures through family traditions, food, and music.
Seth’s initial interest outside of medicine, and focus of his studies during undergraduate at Brandeis University, was around film studies. During this major, he learned how the moving image is a reflection of, and influences culture and society. It was during this time that he honed in his analytic nature to problems, and is how he approaches situations both inside and outside of the clinical setting. After attending medical school in Florida, Seth did his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas at Houston. Afterwards, Seth was a chief resident and remained on faculty for two years. During the early years of his medical education and training, Seth has witnessed that quality of health care is influenced by the provider, and not only how they approach the individual patient, but the community they are treating at large. In working with diverse groups of people from various backgrounds, Seth came to realize more regarding the social determinants of health and how important culturally competent care is to the physician-patient relationship, as well as how crucial it is to provide the best medical care. He also appreciated how the profession was sacred, and how professionalism, honesty and doing all for our patients and community should be a focus of physicians outside of the clinical/research/teaching realm.
A majority of Seth’s career has been focused in medical education. From prior clerkship directorship, to being an Internal Medicine Associate Residency Director for over a decade, Seth’s focus was on curriculum development, improving mentorship, and optimizing resident evaluation and feedback. Seth’s focus has since shifted more into clinical care, and the desire to start working towards equity in LGBTQI health care. He is particularly passionate about issues facing the community in the areas of social justice, policy and healthcare advocacy. Seth’s project aims to focus on educating future physicians about these issues, particularly those also facing trans people of color.