Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
A message from Terrell Johnson, MD
Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Department of Medicine
Welcome!
The Department of Medicine is a community built upon the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our trainees, staff, and patients come from diverse backgrounds and the department recognizes that inclusive, culturally sensitive clinical, research, and educational practices are essential to improving the health of our local and global communities. To achieve our goals, we developed a task force that will work to increase diversity through education at all levels of the department, educate to eliminate bias, and foster inclusiveness. We encourage you to take some time to learn more about our team, departmental initiatives, and resources that are available. Please reach out to us if you have questions or are in need of support.
Our community
Each month we feature stories about our faculty, trainees, and teams in our department communications. We also celebrate our members at the Department of Medicine Town Hall events which are held three times each year.
We invite you to explore the links below to learn more about the incredible people whom we have recently featured!
Chair's Spotlight and Team Spotlight
Researchers
Fellows and Residents
Postdocs and Graduate Students
Department of Medicine DEI news
Department of Medicine Town Hall (UMass Chan log in required)
Working groups
We have established the following working groups to develop concrete action items with metrics and target benchmarks to monitor efficacy.
Culture/Bias - Liaisons: Yoel Carrasquillo-Vega, MD, MBA, CPT and Karen Griffin, EdD
Implement a process of identifying and eliminating bias and micro- and macroaggressions. Develop guidelines for an inclusive environment that provides psychological, social, and cultural conditions for the growth and development of faculty, trainees, and staff.
Education - Liaison: P.Y. Fan, MD
Develop formal curricula and educational strategies to educate faculty, trainees, staff, and administration on diversity.
Leadership/Career development - Liaison: Jennifer Reidy, MD
Build leadership, enhance opportunity career advancement in a culturally responsive environment.
Physician Executive for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging - Liaison: Lauren Feld, MD
Represent our department’s faculty, staff, house staff, and fellows on issues such as parental leave and gender equity. Watch Dr. Feld's video on Why Diversity Matters where she explains why she is passionate about making sure that everyone across the training spectrum in medicine is supported.
Recruitment - Liaisons: Kate Fitzgerald, PhD and Yoel Carrasquillo-Vega, MD, MBA, CPT
Develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive plan for recruitment/retention that focuses on enhancing cultural diversity.
Research - Liaison: Pranoti Mandrekar, PhD
Support a diverse workforce to improve health through research that identifies, explains, and addresses health care disparities.
Our work by numbers
Beginning in February 2023, the our divisions have participated in a two-session Unconscious Bias Training led by certified facilitators in the Department of Medicine. The adjacent graphs depict a 94% completion rate for session 1 (left) and a 75% completion rate for session 2 (right), as of December 2023.
The Department of Medicine also requests statements on diversity from all interviewing candidates. The department has received these statements from 66% of candidates, as of June 2023. Learn more about Department of Medicine recruitment diversity statements.
