Adrien M. Barrios is the current Program Specialist II of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships in the Academic Affairs Department at the Association of American Medical Colleges. Adrien holds a wealth of experience in strategic community relationships that advance Hispanic and multicultural communities, and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion.

During his undergraduate career at UC Davis, Adrien leveraged service-learning opportunities to respond to the demonstrated health and social service needs of diverse communities. Adrien applied the knowledge he gained from coursework in community nutrition, sociology, epidemiology, and human behavior to facilitate nutrition workshops for youth and families with instruction in both English and Spanish.

These community-based experiences launched him into a career in academic medicine with his first, full-time role as a Community Health Specialist in the Public Health Initiatives Department at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). In this position, Adrien identified and developed partnerships with non-profit organizations, medical schools and teaching hospitals in the Washington, DC area. Programming focused on key aspects of youth education, mentorship, and housing insecurity to appropriately address the needs in the community.

Adrien currently is a veteran member of the AAMC Community Grants Committee. The goal of the AAMC Community Grants Program is to award grant funding to a variety of non-profits for a range of projects and activities throughout the District of Columbia that meet a demonstrated need in the community, directly serve the community and its residents, and focus on improving the health and/or welfare of the community, in support of the AAMC’s mission “…to improve the health of people everywhere.”

Additionally, Adrien is deeply engaged in managing several projects that impact medical education and student affairs at medical schools and teaching hospitals across the U.S. and Canada. For example, he is the primary project manager for a major AAMC strategic initiative designed to provide educators at member medical schools and teaching institutions with the tools and resources they need to address racist practices and policies in the learning environment. For over 2 years, Adrien has coordinated activities of the AAMC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Competencies Advisory Committee which is in the near-final stages of designing competencies to guide curricular and professional development, performance assessment, and improvement in health care services and outcomes. These cross-continuum competencies can be used as guideposts for educators to structure curricula to integrate learning in DEI and anti-racism for medical students, resident physicians, and faculty physicians. Adrien is currently pursuing a M.Ed. degree in Educational Leadership & Policy with a focus in student affairs at the University of Utah.