Happy New Year. We have built tremendous momentum over the past seven months. I am excited to share the plans for January and into the spring below.
Recruitment
The residency interview season is coming to an end this month. In February, we are hosting URiM applicants for the Yale Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce Dinner. At this event, potential residents will have the opportunity to meet trainees and faculty committed to sustaining a diverse and inclusive learning and work climate across Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and Yale New Haven Health System. These events lead up to Match Day on Friday, March 15.
Planning is underway for a delegation to go to Howard University College of Medicine for a recruitment event on March 9. At Howard, we will showcase our excellent training opportunities and inclusive climate. We will hold a Yale Q&A session there and perform mock interviews to prepare students for their future residency interviews, wherever that may be.
We have a large 40-person delegation planned for the Annual Medical Education Conference in New Orleans, La. at the end of March. There, we will hold a Yale social event separate from the standard exhibition so students can get to know us better.
Retention
The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Medicine (ODEIM) is gearing up to administer the Department of Medicine Inclusive Climate Survey to all faculty, staff, and post-docs. This is an anonymous survey. To ensure anonymity and to blind everyone, including the team at ODEIM, we are having an external management consulting firm administer the survey. We hope to start on February 1 and open the survey for six weeks. The data will be analyzed and stored within ODEIM upon completion.
Last month, we launched the URiM Physician Experience Mentoring Program for our URiM residents, and are excited to share that the program is expanding to include our URiM Med-Peds trainees. Mentors will be Med-Peds-trained URiM physicians.
Vivian Asare, MD, vice chief of DEI for the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, and I will be holding a workshop on intercultural competency at their section retreat at Old Saybrook Point in January. My hope is that this workshop will be presented at all section retreats this year and offered to other clinical departments across the school.
Aba Black, MD, MHS, and I will hold an informal session on DEI-related topics for residents in the Race, Bias, and Advocacy in Medicine Distinction Pathway this month. More information on the pathway can be found on the website.
On February 2, I will participate in the Section of General Internal Medicine DEI retreat led by Aba.
Early Pipeline Efforts
ODEIM, and our Departmental Early Pipeline Diversity Working Group (led by Carmen Canales and Heidi Zapata, MD, PhD); Maria Parente, the Yale Pathways to Science Program Manager; and the Yale University Office of New Haven Affairs are partnering with the Medical Specialty Exposure Program (MSEP) and the Yale Minority House Staff Organization to engage New Haven’s public high school students. MSEP was created and is led by Kristen Obiakor, MD, MS, (third-year Pediatrics resident).
The MSEP Program aims to empower high school students from groups historically minoritized in STEM to pursue medical careers. Through career insight, networking opportunities, and clinical exposure, they hope to foster pathways toward our next generation of medical providers. Their goal is to identify students who are passionate about exploring the field of medicine and who will gain the most from the MSEP experience.
MSEP will holds five large workshop events on the YSM campus (the Hope building) in 2024. The first workshop will take place on 1/27/2024. Please visit the website for more MSEP information and workshop dates.
If you, your program, or section would like to participate in or sponsor any of the workshop events, please email MSEP to inquire.
ODEIM Tools
Plans to disseminate and obtain nationwide buy-in for our DEI Productivity Calculator are moving forward. Our submission on this project has been accepted after review for presentation at the Association of American Medical Colleges’ group on Diversity and Inclusion National Professional Development Conference to be held in Philadelphia, Pa. in March. We are excited to share the impact the DEI Calculator can have on the integration of faculty DEI-related activities into the appointments and promotions evaluation processes at academic medical centers nationwide.
As for YSM, I will be presenting our project at a Yale’s Office of Academic & Professional Development (OAPD) faculty workshop this spring.
Upcoming Talks
The next Equity Begins with Everyone (EBE) gathering will be held on February 12 at noon. Johanna Elumn, MSW, PhD, from the Section of General Internal Medicine, will be our faculty speaker, and Terry Setzer from the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine will be our staff speaker. As usual, this will take place in the Fitkin Auditorium with a hybrid option. Cuisine from different parts of the world will be served for lunch. Please plan to join us.
Below are the secular and religious events during January:
- Eastern and Coptic Orthodox Christians observe January 7 as Christmas. Christians celebrate Epiphany on January 6, but Orthodox Christians will celebrate Epiphany almost two weeks later, on January 19.
- Korean Americans are honored on Saturday, January 13, with a day of commemoration.
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on Monday, January 15. Yale holds an annual celebration for the civil rights leader. Learn more about the commemoration and calendar of events on the website.
- January 15 also marks the end of the winter solstice. People who participate in the Hindi religion celebrate the occasion with a harvest festival, Makar Sankranti.
- World Religion Day is observed on January 24 by followers of the Baháʼí faith.
Have you participated in our monthly column, “Voices of DEI”? These columns are featured on the Internal Medicine website and social media channels. If you wish to participate as a featured voice of DEI, please complete the survey at this link.
I am committed to supporting and expanding DEI efforts within the Department of Internal Medicine; please join me. Equity begins with everyone. Together, we strive. Together, we rise.
Respectfully Yours,
Benjamin Mba, MBBS, MRCP (UK), CHCQM, FACP
Vice Chair, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Department of Internal Medicine
Graduate Medical Education Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale School of Medicine