First of all, I am very excited to be here at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and the Department of Internal Medicine. I officially started a little over a week ago and have been getting settled. I have lived in the Chicago area for a long time, and this is my first time living in the Northeast. I was born in Nigeria, where I attended medical school. I completed an internal medicine residency program in the UK and relocated to Chicago, where I completed a second internal medicine residency program at Cook County Hospital. I worked for Cook County Health for 24 years in various roles and was a professor of medicine at Rush Medical College. I joined the Yale team to be part of the robust structure fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). I applaud Yale’s leadership commitment to DEI.
Over the next four to six weeks, I hope to meet all the individual DEI vice chiefs within the sections and see things through their own lenses. In addition, I look forward to attending the staff picnic on July 18. I want to meet as many people as possible.
So far, I’ve sat down with the interim chairs, Vandana Khungar, MD, MSc; Aba Black, MD, MHS; and Steve Huot, MD; along with staffers from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Medicine (ODEIM). I would like to thank them for keeping the mission of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the forefront, especially during the interim period.
Over the next few weeks, I will meet with department leadership to share some ideas that I would like to implement, with the goals of increasing mentorship for underrepresented in medicine (URiM) trainees, faculty, and staff and increasing transparency.
In addition, I have started reviewing data with Cayetana Navarro regarding faculty promotion. Equity around faculty promotion is something that I’m very interested in looking into and advocating for. Participating in DEI and other activities to achieve health equity should be one of the parameters considered for academic promotion. I will look at faculty promotion across gender and URiM status to see how Yale compares to the national trend across medical schools. And since the national trend itself is not good enough, we should work to exceed it.
Looking ahead at the month of July, here is some information on two secular and religious events to be aware of:
- Hijri or Islamic New Year begins on the evening of July 18. People who celebrate the Muslim faith honor the day solemnly, attending religious gatherings and singing spiritual songs. The day marks the start of the month of Muharram, the second most holy month of the year after Ramadan.
- July is Disability Pride Month. The month honors the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which became law on July 26, 1990.
For this month’s “Voices of DEI,” I thought it would be helpful for me to participate. You can read this column on the website and via social media. If you wish to participate as a featured voice of DEI and we welcome all to do so, please complete the survey at this link.
I am committed to supporting and expanding DEI efforts within the Department of Internal Medicine, ODEIM, and YNHH, and I welcome the partnership across the organization. I am excited about what we can achieve at YSM and YNHH. I hope everyone will join and support our DEI efforts; equity begins with everyone.
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