Introducing Johanna Elumn, MSW, PhD, of the Section of General Internal Medicine.
What does diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to you personally?
Diversity, equity, and inclusion is ensuring that everyone is seen, heard, and valued. It includes people from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives in thinking about and addressing the challenges we face today
Why do you value diversity?
Growing up in NYC as the child of a Black father and white mother, I saw the value of diversity in my immediate and extended family. As a child, I lived in a building designed to foster diversity where artists, older people, and community members lived together. I experienced the AIDS epidemic in that community, and we lost 25% of the people living in our apartment complex. Still, I also saw how everyone came together to educate the community and support those living with HIV/AIDS. I also experienced being the only person of color, and the only person from a financially disadvantaged background, in my educational setting. From a very early age, the value and beauty of meeting and learning from people who are different from you was rooted in me.
Why should an academic setting be equal and inclusive?
As an academic institution, we strive to advance our understanding of problems and solutions. Including diverse perspectives and experiences only makes our work richer and more rigorous. At the SEICHE Center for Health & Justice, we study how incarceration impacts health, and it is essential to that work that we include people directly affected by incarceration in our research and clinical care. As someone who has experienced how the criminal legal system has affected the people close to me, I bring this perspective to my work. My team members who have themselves been incarcerated bring that knowledge to the work and bring ideas and solutions based on those experiences.
Why are you on the diversity committee?
I am part of both the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Internal Medicine and the Diversity Committee. It is an opportunity to work with others committed to DEI, get to know people who work throughout the department, and learn from the experiences of everyone on the committee.
The Department of Internal Medicine’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Internal Medicine knows that diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical to our mission; that providing a safe, welcoming environment for people of all backgrounds results in beneficial diversity of thought; and believes that having a diverse team enhances our ability to provide excellent clinical care, research, and medical education.