On January 28, Yale New Haven Hospital’s Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME), Yale School of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Yale New Haven Health’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and Yale School of Medicine’s Minority Organization for Recruitment & Expansion (MORE) and Diversity, Inclusion, Community, Engagement, and Equity (DICE) co-sponsored a recruitment dinner for future potential underrepresented in medicine (URiM) residents. Interested potential residents across 20 residency programs within the GME participated in the virtual dinner, which drew a record-breaking 370 participants.
President of Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) Keith Churchwell, MD, served as the master of ceremony. Welcoming remarks came from Dean Nancy J. Brown, MD, Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of the Yale School of Medicine and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine.
Yale is extraordinary in many ways, stated Brown. “The event this evening is the most important thing we do. When I look back on my tenure as dean, what I will look back on is not whether we built any buildings, or realized growth in research, but the kind of people we’ve brought here and how we’ve developed their careers. So my pledge to you is that if you come here, we will invest in you and we will develop your careers,” she said.
Stephen Huot, MD, PhD, associate dean for Graduate Medical Education, continued to welcoming remarks by sharing his personal story when he became program director of the Yale Primary Care Residency Program, and in his role as associate dean of GME. “For those of you who are looking at education as a dominant part of your career in the future, I can assure you that this is an environment that values that, and that will help you to nurture and develop the talents you need to excel as both a clinician and an educator,” said Huot.
Current residents Ghenekaro Esin, MD, and James Stewart, MD, co-presidents of the Minority Housestaff Organization (MHO) shared their Yale experiences, along with William Shipman III, MD, PhD, and Giovanni Ibrahim, DMD, MS, with the Diversity Council.
Other speakers included Gary V. Desir, MD, Paul B. Beeson Professor of Medicine, Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity, chair, Department of Internal Medicine, and chief, Internal Medicine at YNHH; Nina Ahuja, MD, MBA, FACS, William H. Carmalt Professor of Surgery, and chair, Department of Surgery; Lisa L. Lattanza, MD, chair, Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation; and John H. Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience, and chair, Department of Psychiatry; Darin Latimore, MD, deputy dean and YSM chief diversity officer; Maria Alicea, YNHHS diversity and inclusion manager; and Tom Balcezak, MD, executive vice president and chief clinical officer, YNHHS.
To conclude the formal program, Inginia Genao, MD, FACP, associate chair, Diversity & Inclusion for the Department of Internal Medicine and GME Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion read her autobiographical essay, “An MD Made in America.”
Participants then went into breakout rooms to learn more about the residency programs offered at YSM.
“When we started this event a few years ago, we had 40 participants,” said Genao. “Through the partnership of many organizations, this event has grown to over 350 participants either already at Yale or interested in what Yale has to offer. What an outstanding evening.”