Diana M. Cejas

Cejas was born in Virginia, but grew up in Rougemont, North Carolina.{{cite news |last1=CBS News |first1= |title=Doctor who survived cancer, stroke: "I was there... Maybe I can help" |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctor-diana-cejas-cancer-stroke-survivor/ |access-date=26 December 2023 |date=27 Apr 2016}}

While Cejas was a medical student at Howard University, she found a lump on her neck. Dismissed by her medical providers, she was not diagnosed with cancer until her second year of residency. After the second surgery for her cancer, she had a stroke, which left her with residual dysarthria and hemiparesis.{{Cite web |title=The Lingering Lump, Diana Cejas' Story - Patient Stories |url=https://www.improvediagnosis.org/stories_posts/the-lingering-lump-diana-cejas-story/ |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-11-10 |title=Why This Doctor Is Fighting for Her Patients' Pain to Be Taken More Seriously |url=https://www.teenvogue.com/story/doctor-diana-cejas-interview |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=Teen Vogue |language=en-US}} She struggled during her residency due to lack of accommodations for disabled physicians.{{cite web |last1=Lu |first1=Wendy |title=Disabled Doctors Were Called Too 'Weak' To Be In Medicine. It's Hurting The Entire System. |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/disabled-doctors-medicine-ableism_n_60f86967e4b0ca689fa560dc |website=Huffpost |date=22 July 2021 |access-date=26 December 2023}}

Cejas works at the University of North Carolina as a pediatric neurologist and assistant professor. She has a dual appointment at the Carolina Institute of Developmental Disabilities where she sees children with developmental disabilities.{{Cite web |title=Diana M. Cejas, MD, MPH |url=https://www.med.unc.edu/neurology/directory/diana-m-cejas-m-d-m-p-h/ |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=Department of Neurology |language=en-US}}

She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology and was selected for the Diversity Leadership Program in 2022. She co-created the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force of the Child Neurology Society in 2021{{cite journal |last1=Brumback |first1=Audrey |last2=Wilson |first2=Rujuta |last3=Augustine |first3=Erika |last4=Bass |first4=Nancy |last5=Bassuk |first5=Alexander |last6=Cejas |first6=Diana |last7=Shellhaas |first7=Renee |last8=Strober |first8=Jonathan |last9=Tilton |first9=Ann |last10=Pearl |first10=Phillip |title=Introducing the Child Neurology Society Leadership, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force |journal=Annals of Neurology |date=Oct 2021|volume=90 |issue=4 |pages=537–538 |doi=10.1002/ana.26176|pmid=34288089 |hdl=2027.42/170226 |hdl-access=free }} and was elected to the board as the Councilor from the South for 2022-2024.{{cite web |title=CNS BOARD OF DIRECTORS |url=https://www.childneurologysociety.org/colleagues/about/cns-board-of-directors/ |website=Child Neurology Society |access-date=26 December 2023}}

Cejas is on the advisory committee for the Docs with Disabilities Initiative.{{cite web |title=Diana Cejas, MD |url=https://www.docswithdisabilities.org/post/diana-cejas-md |website=Docs with Disabilities Initiative |date=12 April 2023 |access-date=26 December 2023}} She also sits on the advisory panel of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) on Healthcare Delivery and Disparities Research.{{cite web |title=Experiences as a Patient Inspire Advocacy Work of New Physician Member of HDDR Advisory Panel |url=https://www.pcori.org/blog/experiences-patient-inspire-advocacy-work-new-physician-member-hddr-advisory-panel |website=PCORI: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute |date=25 January 2022 |access-date=26 December 2023}}

Her work has been published in literary magazines including The Iowa Review, Ecotone, and Passages North;{{cite web |last1=Cejas |first1=Diana |title=Human Growth and Development |url=https://www.passagesnorth.com/passagesnorthcom/2019/6/7/human-growth-and-development-by-diana-cejas |website=Passages North|date=7 June 2019 }} and anthologies including Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century{{cite book |last1=Wong |first1=Alice [ed] |title=Disability Visibility FIRST-PERSON STORIES FROM THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY |date=2020 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |isbn=9781984899422}} and A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South.{{cite web |title=Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity Discussion Group |url=https://laneguides.stanford.edu/SMADIE-discussion-group/racism |website=Stanford Medicine Lane Medical Library |access-date=26 December 2023}} She is currently working on a collection of essays describing her life as a physician and a patient.{{cite web |last1=Cejas |first1=Diana |title=In the Blood |url=https://ecotonemagazine.org/ecotone-authors/diana-cejas/ |website=Ecotone |access-date=26 December 2023}}

• Broyhill Research Award in Child Neurology, 2020{{Cite web |date=2020-11-11 |title=Hunter, Cejas Receive 2020 Broyhill Research Award in Child Neurology |url=https://news.unchealthcare.org/2020/11/hunter-cejas-receive-2020-broyhill-research-award-in-child-neurology/ |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=Newsroom |language=en-US}}

Peer-reviewed Articles

• Kim Y-M, Cejas DM. Empowering differences: Disability in child neurology training. Annals of the Child Neurology Society. 2023 16 August 2023 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cns3.20036
• Cejas DM. Changing views of disability. Lancet Neurol. 2023 Sep;22(9):781. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(23)00276-4. PMID: 37596003. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(23)00276-4/fulltext
• Brumback AC, Wilson RB, Augustine EF, Bass NE, Bassuk AG, Cejas DM, Shellhaas RA, Strober JB, Tilton AC, Pearl PL. Introducing the Child Neurology Society Leadership, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force. Ann Neurol. 2021 Oct;90(4):537-538. doi: 10.1002/ana.26176. Epub 2021 Aug 4. PMID: 34288089. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.26176
• Houtrow A, Martin AJ, Harris D, Cejas D, Hutson R, Mazloomdoost Y, Agrawal RK. Health Equity for Children and Youth With Special Health Care Needs: A Vision for the Future. Pediatrics. 2022 Jun 1;149(Suppl 7):e2021056150F. doi: 10.1542/peds.2021-056150F. PMID: 35642875. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35642875/

Creative Nonfiction

• Convalescence Triptych https://losangelesreview.org/convalescence-triptych-diana-cejas/
• Human Growth and Development Passages North https://www.passagesnorth.com/passagesnorthcom/2019/6/7/human-growth-and-development-by-diana-cejas
• I Have a Disability Too, I Told My Patient. Medpage Today, June 30, 2021 https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/93361
• Taking Charge of My Story as a Cancer Patient at the Hospital Where I Work. https://catapult.co/stories/taking-charge-of-my-story-as-a-cancer-patient-at-the-hospital-where-i-work
• The First Thing I Wrote. MedHumChat. https://www.medhumchat.com/medhumchat-blog/2019/11/22/the-first-thing-i-wrote
• To struggling medical students: Meet the physician who conquered the “no’s” https://www.kevinmd.com/2019/06/to-struggling-medical-students-meet-the-physician-who-conquered-the-nos.html
• My story isn’t Serena Williams’ story, but some things sound the same https://www.kevinmd.com/2018/08/my-story-isnt-serena-williams-story-but-some-things-sound-the-same.html
• Welcome to your intern year breakdown https://www.kevinmd.com/2018/06/welcome-to-your-intern-year-breakdown.html
• Cejas DM. Meat slurry and my particular brand of optimism. Neurology. March 6, 2018. 90 (10) 479-480 https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/wnl.0000000000005078
• Cejas DM. A PIECE OF MY MIND. Every Little Anniversary. JAMA. 2015 Dec 1;314(21):2237. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.12385. PMID: 26624822. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2473497

Selected Work on Disability and Advocacy

• "Expanding Diversity in Neurology, Inclusive Communication and Accessibility: Diana M. Cejas, MD, MPH" Neurology Live,19 May 2023 https://www.neurologylive.com/view/expanding-diversity-neurology-inclusive-communication-accessibility-diana-cejas
• Docs with Disabilities Podcast, Episode 22, Part 2: https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/family-medicine/programs/mdisability/transforming-medical-education/docs-disabilities-podcast/docswithdisabilities-podcast-ep-22-diana-cejas-alice-wong
• The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine. "The Lingering Lump" https://www.improvediagnosis.org/stories_posts/the-lingering-lump-diana-cejas-story/

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