As the new assistant director for equity, inclusion and campus climate in the Diversity and Inclusion Office, Jeanna Lee, PhD, will use her experience in clinical psychology, cultural sensitivity and working with marginalized communities to work to improve equity and inclusion at UMass Chan Medical School.
“While teaching graduate learners in psychology and medicine here at UMass Chan, I brought a lens of cultural sensitivity to patient encounters, diagnostic formulation and treatment interventions,” said Dr. Lee, assistant professor of family medicine & community health and psychiatry, who served as behavioral health faculty in the Worcester Family Medicine Residency program. “My education as a clinical psychologist and life experience as a BIPOC woman who has lived in many different cultures are all part of who I am, which will indelibly influence my approach to DEI work.”
Lee, who began in this newly created role in November, assumes the duties of the Title IX coordinator and will focus on the development, implementation and administration of policy and programming aimed at improving equity and inclusion throughout UMass Chan.
Lee was active on the Structural Oppression and Anti-Racism Committee and the Diversity in Recruitment Task Force while teaching in the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health. She briefly worked with the Psychology Internship Program sponsored by UMass Chan in partnership with the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital.
In this role, Lee will collaborate with existing offices and entities to create this infrastructure.
“Research on inclusion makes it clear that individual well-being, confidence, engagement at work and job productivity are all increased by a sense of belonging and uniqueness in their workplace,” Lee said.
Lee emphasized her availability to listen to anyone who has felt unacknowledged, silenced, ignored, harassed or harmed and she seeks to “take care of the individuals at UMass Chan through both systemic change and individual connection.”
“Your authentic self is unique and welcomed in this community,” she said. “Good scientists and scholars will allow challenges to their biases and seek additional information to find truth. Allow yourself to feel uncertain and open to information that contradicts your bias. Take a chance to change your habits of thought and action to see if we can improve the outcome together.”
Dr. Lee earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Palo Alto University in California. Her research and clinical work focused on working with underserved, marginalized and traumatized youth and their families. She came to Massachusetts for a postdoctoral fellowship in integrated primary care behavioral health at UMass Chan in 2012.
