February is Black History Month. Belonging at Yale has shared resources, courses, events, seminars, and other opportunities on their website to celebrate our colleagues and raise awareness of the observance. Visit February: Focus on Black History Month to learn more.
Last week, Aba led a full-day DEI retreat with the Section of General Internal Medicine. It was a wonderful day of reflection and skill-building with a focus on inclusive excellence. The day included a diverse panel of DEI leaders across the university and healthcare system who are working to improve our local workplace environment. Another highlight from the day was an expert talk on disability inclusion that prompted us to think more critically about accessible instruction and mentorship for trainees with different abilities. DEI Retreats can be a high-yield strategy for raising awareness and engaging in productive conversation with your colleagues.
We are excited to let you know about a new feature now available for all website profiles. Beatrix, Yale School of Medicine’s content management system, has added the ability to add pronouns. If selected and are made visible, will appear right below the person’s name. For an example, see Cayetana Navarro’s profile.
It is easy to complete. Here are the steps:
- Sign into Beatrix.
- In the left menu, click People and in the sub menu that appears, click Your Profile.
- Scroll down, below Name Info and Suffixes, to Pronouns.
- Click Add New and fill out required fields in the pop out window that appears.
- By default, this is set to Public but you can change it to private if you like.
- Click Add when done. They should appear on your profile in 20-30 minutes.
If there are questions about any Department of Medicine DEI initiatives, or an issue pertaining to DEI across the department for faculty, trainees, or staff, please contact Vandana. If you are a DEI vice chief and have a question or concern, please contact Aba. For GME-related DEI questions, please contact Steve Huot.
For this month’s “Voices of DEI,” we highlight Hillary Drumm, APRN, RN. To her, DEI means “seeing all different faces, cultures, and physical abilities at the table.” 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.
We are excited to partner with each of you on DEI initiatives.
Best wishes,
Vandana Khungar, MD, MSc (Interim Associate Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)
Vice Chief for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Digestive Diseases
Associate Professor of Medicine
Aba Black, MD, MHS (Interim Associate Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)
Vice Chief for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | General Internal Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine