Recent DEI efforts in the Department of Medicine
The Department of Medicine DEI Council recently held their year-end retreat; strategizing how they can help move diversity, equity and inclusion efforts further within the Department of Medicine (DOM).
The vision of the Department of Medicine’s DEI Council is to integrate diversity and inclusion as core values throughout all parts of DOM and to address imbalances through a lens of equity. Diversity, equity and inclusion are essential to improving the health of our patients and communities and attracting, retaining and supporting outstanding and committed DOM members.
Year in review
Annual Report
The DOM DEI Annual report will be released Fall 2024. This will highlight additional initiatives and contributions by DOM faculty, trainees, and staff.
Division leadership
DEI champions appointed for all divisions, and DEI self-assessments are being completed by division leadership and DEI champions.
Demographics
Department of Medicine faculty and trainee demographics were published on the department website.
Bias navigator program
Our Bias Navigator Program – the first line towards addressing bias incidents occurring in the workplace – was expanded with three new staff navigators.
Best practices
Best practices for hiring and DEI rubrics were rolled out.
Surveys
The EDI systemwide survey results were released.
- 10,246 UW system-wide results; 855 from DOM members
- Many domains: Belonging, Hiring, System Perception, Retaliation, Retention, Overall Climate
- On most areas we were above system standards
- Areas we can improve:
- Belonging domain
- System perception: Improvements in training
- 75% in DOM reported never/infrequently experiencing bias
- 58% of Black/African-American respondents, 66% of Latino, and 63% of Middle Eastern/North African respondents.
Recommendations from the EDI survey:
- Earn trust by demonstrating leadership accountability and follow through on reported incidents of bias.
- Address disparities of belonging and psychological safety, where individuals can raise concerns of bias without fear of retaliation.
- Develop and support multiple system wide efforts to reduce the frequency of bias and discrimination.
- Increase leadership diversity through formal recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion and development opportunities for our workforce.
Awards
Gender Equity Awards
Our Gender Equity Awards recognize and celebrate individuals who are dedicated to supporting the success of women and gender minorities.
Recipients of the 2024 awards: Dr. Kristina Crothers (Gender Equity Mentorship Award) and Dr. Susan Merel (Gender Equity Trailblazer Award).
Equity Academic Scholar Awards
These awards (formerly Diversity Academic Development Scholarship Awards) assist highly qualified and meritorious trainees in their transition to assistant professors.
Recipients of the 2024 awards: Drs. Christine Limonte and Vidhushei Yogeswaran.
DEI Councils
G
ender Equity
Shoshana Hague, AHR manager for the department, is the new co-chair of the Gender Equity Council (GEC), joining existing co-chair Dr. Nisha Bansal.
LIFT program expanded
The Leadership in Faculty Trajectory (LIFT) program, initially piloted in General Internal Medicine, has now been incorporated into and open to the entire department. Three additional divisions participated this spring – Nephrology, Rheumatology and Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine.
Lactation support
A comprehensive list of lactation spaces across the UW Medicine entities was created and published on our website, and a DOM cooler program for milk storage was successfully launched.
LGBTQ+
New leadership is in place for the LGBTQ+ Council. New co-chairs Drs. Shiv Bhandari and Mack Holmberg are currently working on outlining short and long-term goals for the Council and will be recruiting new members to join.
DEI Lecture Series
As part of our commitment to provide educational opportunities and DEI resources for our staff, faculty, and trainees, we have partnered with the Institute for Common Power to provide a quarterly lecture series.
Recent DEI lectures 
Unveiling the Political Determinants of Health: Impact, Challenges, and Solutions, presented by Dr. Omatola Gordon-Rose.
Unveiling Maternal Morbidity and Mortality in the United States: Disparities and Challenges in Women's Health, presented by Angela Roumain.
DEI grand rounds
Drs. Jason Deen and Lorena Alarcon-Casas Wright gave the DEI grand rounds lecture this year. Dr. Deen presented an “Update on the UW Medicine Center for Indigenous Health” and Dr. Wright presented “Disparities in Diabetes Care and the UW Latinx Diabetes Clinic.
Retreat presentations
The following DOM members gave presentations at the retreat to highlight recent DEI work:
Community-based mobile health screening
Dr. Leo Morales, professor (General Internal Medicine) talked about ¡Adios COVID! – a program that originally started in 2020 to facilitate the vaccination and wellness of all Latinos in Washington state, and launched the first study of Long COVID among Latinos.
The team of statewide volunteers now also provides mobile health screenings for cardiometabolic health check (pre-diabetes, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity).
New health care opportunities for immigrants in Washington
Immigrants without documentation are uninsured in Washington and have limited insurance options regulated by federal policies.
Dr. Karen Rico, former Harborview Chief Resident, discussed the new health care opportunities for immigrants in Washington state through Qualified Health Plans, and the Apple Health Expansion.
The Affordable Care Act Section 1332 Waiver allows the state to pursue innovative strategies to access high quality and affordable health insurance. Washington’s waiver expanded access to qualified health plans and Medicaid-like programs to residents regardless of immigration status. The waiver is effective from Jan. 1, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2028. Access to state insurance plans is a step forward to providing equitable health care to all Washingtonians.
Applications opened June 2024 for the Apple Health expansion for immigrants without documentation. The expansion mirrors the Apple Health program, providing medical, behavior and dental care.
Identity safety
Dr. Justin Bullock, acting instructor (Nephrology) talked about identity safety. Identity safety refers to a state where a person feels a freedom to be oneself, where they can exist as their authentic self without worrying about others’ perceptions of their identities. Bullock gave an excellent presentation on how clinicians’ use of self-disclosure can be an effective means of bridging perceived or real gaps between doctors and patients that may impede care delivery.
Critical Theory perspectives were provided as background in developing an intersectional view between personal identity, a profession’s identity and one’s professional identity.
Self-disclosure is a way of humanizing ourselves and a way of providing our subjective perspectives outside of the professional norms that can at times put up barriers between ourselves and those we wish to help.
Engaging community to increase diversity in clinical trials
Dr. Bessie Young, professor (Nephrology) reported on the work being done by the Office of Healthcare Equity around engaging the community to increase diversity in clinical trials.
Health iniquities are pervasive and contribute to morbidity. Demographic diversification in clinical trials is one of the ways we can help address health concerns across all communities.
Washington state’s Diversity in Clinical Trials (House Bill 1745) is supposed to help provide funds to build an infrastructure for increasing participation; however, we are still relying on funding partnerships at this stage.
Join us!
The DOM DEI Council is open to anyone in the department – all are welcome and included.
If you have any questions, please contact Sean Greenlee or David Horne, DEI Council co-chairs.