Dr. Defoe is a true game changer in the space of advancing equity in health care. Inspired by her trainings in Civil Rights in the American Health System, she co-founded the Johns Hopkins Health Equity Group to open further discussions and call for action in health equity. She received further training in Leadership Development to Advance Equity in Health Care from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for Executive and Continuing Professional Education. She is trained in Lean Six Sigma from the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.

As an obstetrician & gynecologists with further training and board certifications in preventive medicine, public health, occupational medicine, integrative and holistic medicine, and over 25 years of experience in the field of medicine, she is able to recognize the barriers that minority clinicians encounter both in the workforce and in training. She co-founded the Alliance for Clinicians Equity, ACE, to work collaboratively with institutions to treat this preventable inequity, by eliminating the problem and substituting equitable change at a systemic level.