Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Social Justice, and Anti-Racism

VISION STATEMENT

Lawrence FMR values diversity in every form and strives for a culture of inclusion and awareness in pursuit of a more equitable future for the communities we serve now and in the future.

The Diversity Committee

WHO WE ARE

A group of residents, faculty, and health center employees who are committed to fostering discussion, education and advocacy that challenges systems of injustice.

HISTORY

In order to nurture a workforce more accurately reflecting the community we serve and address issues related to social justice and equality, residents created a Diversity Committee in 2015. This group worked with residency leadership and spearheaded multiple initiatives. Curricular and enrichment activities, such as Book Club and themed outpatient teaching have been important aspects of the Diversity Committee since its inception. Intentional efforts to improve recruitment of underrepresented minority (URM) students also began in 2015 and have had a significant impact on resident diversity. In 2018, the committee reorganized as a joint resident-faculty effort. The committee is co-chaired by two residents with a faculty lead and consists of two working groups,: recruitment and curriculum. The tasks of the working groups are supported by Coordinators, general members, and residency administration. The Committee holds  monthly meetings, which where all residents and faculty are welcomed to attend. More recently, in the social unrest of 2020-2021 further highlighting the wide reach of racism, in recent social unrest, we have taken a step back and examined our own institution and are particularly proud that we have been able to push forward the establishment of the Lawrence General Hospital and Greater Lawrence Family Health Center DEI committees which have representation across different departments, including resident representatives.

WHAT WE DO

The Diversity Committee focuses on three specific areas:   

1)      Resident recruitment: Efforts have focused on increased medical student outreach, identifying resident and faculty contacts who can serve as resources for students from diverse backgrounds, and addressing potential barriers to URM student applications/interviews.  

2)      Curriculum development: Efforts have included review of current didactic teaching topics for opportunities to address inequities and best-practices related to diversity, inclusion, and race in medicine within all didactic topics and teaching as well as support for resident-led teachings on diversity topics during morning lectures. Additionally, resident retreats and core teaching sessions have led to implicit bias and microaggression training for all residents.

3)      Culture change within the residency: Emphasis has been placed on the cultivation of open spaces for reflection, understanding, and awareness, including media reflections, cultural potlucks, protest and exchanges of resident and faculty experiences in matters of diversity and inclusion.


ACTIVITIES

Recruitment Working Group

Community Engagement and Partnerships

  • E.g. Collaboration on COVID 19 awareness and vaccine education (in English and Spanish)

Pipeline

  • Science Squad at Lawrence Public Library: science lessons for local grade age students
  • A Day in the Life (Dartmouth Days, Tufts Medical School partnership: hosting undergraduate students interested in careers in health professions from various regional colleges and universities)
  • Webinar Series Applying to Family Medicine Residency – assisting URM medical students navigate the application process and provide mentorship
  • Mentorship and internal support of our URM residents

The Match

  • Prioritizing holistic review of applications, blinding reviewers to USMLE scores, addressing ways in which structural racism impacts application and recruitment 
  • Diversity liaisons to outreach URM applicants throughout application process
  • Ongoing efforts to mitigate bias during ranking process
  • Moving toward exclusive virtual interviews to ensure equity
  • Residency wide trainings on implicit bias

Conference Attendance

  • LMSA/SNMA, Beyond Flexner and other social justice oriented conferences

Curriculum Working Group

Institutional Changes

Propelling the establishment of Lawrence General Hospital Advisory Committee (our partner community hospital) and Greater Lawrence Family Health Center Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council, both of which include resident committee members 

  • Current initiatives include
    • Hosting events/discussions to build awareness of disparities such as Grand Rounds (previous topics including Race-Base Calculators, Achieving Health Equity for LGBTQIA+ people, Language Justice)
  • Creating a safer and more inclusive culture through 
    • Conducting staff listening groups to identify concerns
    • Improving the reporting mechanisms in the hospital and clinic to microaggression and bias 
    • Hosting events that celebrate the diversity within our patients, community and our work place

Anti-Racism/Health Equity Curriculum

Integrating DEI curriculum such as the Cultural Complications curriculum from the University of Maryland into our didactics such as in:

  • Thursday Afternoon Didactics 
  • Outpatient AM Teaching 
  • Foundations in Medicine (Intern and Third Year) implicit bias and microaggression training
  • Resident/Faculty Lunch Discussions on different DEI topics in partnership with Wellness Committee such as A Reflection of Our Personal Identities;  Anti-Asian Hate Crimes; Vaccine Hesitancy; Reproductive Justice/LARC Coercion; Black Lives Matter Movement and the Implications for Medicine

Media Reflections

    • Movie/Documentary Discussions such as Black Men, White Coats
    • Read, Discuss and Learn diversity book club
      • Previous books include 
        • So You Want To Talk About Race
  • Homegoing (in collaboration with Book Club)
      •  Hood Feminism (a collaboration with the Reproductive Health Interest Group)

Cultural Exchange

  • Celebration/Recognition of Cultural Holidays
    • Ex: Juneteenth clinic wide celebration with newsletter and moment of remembrance
  • Scholarship and Advocacy
    • Lecture presentation “Race-Based Calculators” at Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians Spring Refresher Conference
    • Poster and lecture presentation “Changing the Culture: A Multifaceted Approach to Diversity within Residency Training” at Beyond Flexner 
    • Resident and Faculty collaboration on the Massachusetts Medical Society Resolution to End Police Brutality and Reinvest in Public Health