disproportionately disadvantage these applicants from consideration. UMMS has a long commitment to developing a pipeline of students from communities underrepresented in medicine through partnerships with Worcester Public Schools and area colleges. Collins and his leadership team are now also looking at ways to create a pipeline of diverse potential faculty and candidates for administrative positions. Efforts addressing bias and racism in the learning environment are being implemented in several ways. One initiative known as DRIVE, which stands for Diversity, Representation and Inclusion for Value in Education, employs a curriculum appraisal tool designed to illuminate and remove unconscious bias from
course and teaching materials, and a website with resources to promote inclusive learning. DRIVE committee members from across the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Nursing, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Graduate Medical Education, with institutional partners, have been holding workshops and department Grand Rounds to introduce the program. Begun nearly two years ago, it has a bold goal of reaching all corners of the UMMS learning and educational environment. Melissa Fischer, MD, MEd, professor of medicine and associate dean for undergraduate medical education, curriculum innovation and iCELS, said the DRIVE initiative helps the UMMS community embrace cultural
humility. “In medicine, we talk a lot about uncertainty and having to make decisions with the information we have, continually reassessing and being open to change,” she said. “Viewing our teaching and learning through that lens supports this effort to illustrate the impacts of bias on health and the critical value of equity and diversity in medical practice and our community.” “Institutions of higher education are at an important inflection point,” Collins said. “We must work together with our students, our faculty and our community, as we have committed to at UMass Medical School, to steer our future in the right direction.” ■
New VA–UMass Medical School partnership elevates health care for veterans in Central Massachusetts
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ld Glory adorns the white steel beam raised to the top of the medical building under construction on campus to mark the new high ground for veterans health care in Central Massachusetts. Slated to open in the fall of 2021, the new community-based outpatient clinic is a collaboration between the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System and UMass Medical School to provide veterans in the region with a clinical facility that rises to the level of their service to the country. “This partnership is all about ensuring those who have served our nation have access to high-quality and comprehensive medical care, close to home,” said Chancellor Michael F. Collins. The clinic will occupy the first two floors of the new, four-story medical office building, with 65 exam, consultation and procedure rooms designed for patient-aligned care 4 | 2020
Slated to open in the fall of 2021, the new community-based outpatient clinic is a collaboration between the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System and UMass Medical School.
teams. Most of the clinic is devoted to primary and mental health care, with some specialty care, including radiology and echocardiology, and physical and occupational therapy. The clinic will also have a clinical lab and a pharmacy.
It will also be a new teaching site for several UMMS primary care and behavioral health programs, including the newly established primary care internal medicine track, the third-year psychiatry clerkship and the graduate medical education
