Vandana Khungar, MD, MSc
Associate Chair, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Interim)
Aba Black, MD, MHS
Associate Chair, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Interim)
Stephen Huot, MD, PhD
Senior Associate Dean, Graduate Medical Education
The Department of Internal Medicine strives to create an inviting environment and an institutional culture of inclusivity in which each person’s unique characteristics are valued and respected. The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Internal Medicine (ODEIM) was created in December 2020 and inaugurated in June 2021 to support and implement DEI plans and initiatives.
Leadership
In March 2022, a nationwide search began for a vice chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) after Inginia Genao, MD, left Yale to become the Penn State College of Medicine’s first vice dean of diversity, equity, and belonging. Genao accomplished much during her time since November 2016 as the inaugural associate chair for DEI. Among her many accomplishments, she formed ODEIM’s Diversity Committee and developed a strategic plan to guide the office’s work.
While each section continues to have vice chief representation, three faculty members–Vandana Khungar, MD, MSc; Aba Black, MD, MHS; and Stephen Huot, MD, PhD– have joined together as interim leaders.
Outreach
The first annual underrepresented in medicine (URiM) fellow recruitment dinner was held in November 2021. In January 2022, the fifth annual recruitment dinner for potential underrepresented in medicine (URiM) residents took place with over 400 virtual participants, including leaders and colleagues from across Yale New Haven Hospital’s Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME); the Yale School of Medicine (YSM); and Yale New Haven Health (YNHH).
A group of faculty and residents representing YSM and YNHH traveled to Orlando, Florida, in April for the annual Student National Medical Association (SNMA)-sponsored medical education conference.
In August 2022, Yale held its first annual Yale- HBCU Virtual Residency Recruitment Fair with over 100 participants from across Yale and four historically Black colleges and universities: Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science; Howard University College of Medicine; Meharry Medical College; and Morehouse School of Medicine. A group of Yale residents also visited Meharry to recruit prospective residents.
Joseph Oti-Nimoh, the first Visiting Students Scholarship Program participant, came to New Haven in late September. The department continues to receive and consider scholarship applicants on a rolling basis. A medical student from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, Oti-Nimoh completed a four-week pulmonary medical elective.
As ODEIM continues its outreach and recruitment efforts, the GME office reports that the incoming residency class has more than 20 percent self-identified URiMs.
In addition to visitors from HBCUs, outreach efforts continue to include Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs). ODEIM teamed up with Yale colleagues to attend the national Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) Virtual Residency Fair for the first time in September 2022.
Advocacy
Throughout the year, events were held across YSM to support Ukrainian and Iranian faculty, staff, and trainees.