Medical School strengthens commitment to diversity

The year 2020 brought profound change in higher education, particularly for institutions like UMass Medical School, an academic health sciences center with a mission of improving human health.

The COVID-19 global pandemic is one example of how change was thrust upon the Medical School. But it was not the only challenge demanding action.

The nation’s institutions also faced a reckoning on racial disparities, a reckoning prompted in large part by widespread anguish and action following the death in May of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

“The sobering reality is that racism is a public health crisis,” said Chancellor Michael F. Collins. “At UMass Medical School, we see the impact of inequality most concretely on access to education and health care, but we don’t have to look very far to see the pernicious effects of racism on housing, criminal justice, food security and employment. We know that even well-intentioned allies can perpetuate unconscious and implicit biases and structural racism.”

Chancellor Collins and the UMMS leadership team outlined invigorated efforts in 2020 to put diversity into action.

“At UMass Medical School, we believe that diversity drives our future. We aspire to create an academic community where all are and feel welcome and able to thrive,” Collins said.

“Our students, who represent the next generation of stewards of our health, have challenged us to be more transparent and more accountable in creating a learning environment that embodies the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion. And we are doing so.”

Some long-standing diversity and inclusion initiatives are being strengthened and expanded through the IMPACT 2025 strategic plan; other actions, such as charging academic leaders to strengthen diversity among faculty and students, align directly with priorities identified by students.

The Medical School has also begun an ongoing series of conversations designed to help the community explore its own biases and communicate ways to make positive change.

Following are highlights of diversity activities this year:

• The appointment in September of Milagros C. Rosal, PhD, professor of population & quantitative health sciences in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, to the newly created position of vice provost for health equity, responsible for institutional development and implementation of a strategic vision for increasing recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, in concert with the vice provost for clinical and translational science, the vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, and the vice provost for faculty affairs. She will also co-chair the Provost’s Faculty Recruitment Task Force, a group that will work to advance the Medical School’s diversity goals within the faculty ranks.

• Recruiting the next vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, who as a member of the senior leadership team, will be charged with designing, implementing and championing diversity training, programming and collaboration across UMass Medical School.

• The appointment in July of Maria M. Garcia, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, to the new role of assistant vice provost for diversity and student success, responsible for continued development of educational programs and mentorship that respect the diverse educational goals of learners from different educational, personal and cultural backgrounds, in order to enhance career development for students in all three graduate schools.

“I think that students and faculty are really looking at programs that make a difference,” said Dr. Garcia. “It’s not done by us sitting and saying, ‘This is how we’re going to change culture.’ It’s really making people feel comfortable with being with people who are different.”

The School of Medicine student population is notably diverse and the new Class of 2024 reflects that, comprising 91 women, 69 men and two students who did not declare their gender. Eighteen are first-generation college students, 18 are from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and 26 are from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine. The increasingly diverse student population has been a catalyst for continuing reflection and action.

“In the spirit of our assuming responsibility to do more to combat racism in society and in our institutions, we have re-examined all the things that we do within the three-school academic community,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medical Education, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine.

Dean Flotte said Sonia Chimienti, MD, associate professor of medicine, vice provost for student life and enrollment, and associate dean for student affairs, developed antiracism initiatives involving students, while he worked with academic department chairs and deans. Further, Dr. Chimienti expanded her leadership team to include Brian Lewis, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology and the assistant vice provost for outreach and recruitment. Working with all three schools, Dr. Lewis is focused on learner recruitment to enhance diversity, while Dr. Garcia is focused on inclusion and retention.

Holistic student affairs programming is being developed, guided by principles of inclusion of voices from the student body in decisions regarding programs and recruitment; offering the right support at the right time for the entire student body, meeting students where they are; and practicing continuous quality improvement in programs and support, through self-reflection, self-evaluation, modification and growth.

“We have decided as a leadership team that a critical way to combat institutional racism is to recruit more diverse faculty. This will be the primary mission of the newly created vice provost for health equity position, and to a large extent that person will be responsible for driving the process,” Flotte said.

Flotte continued, “The overarching goal is simple: To make UMMS the best medical school in the world in the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty.”

More than 500 members of the UMass Medical School-UMass Memorial community took part in a silent vigil for George Floyd in June, organized by the UMMS chapter of White Coats for Black Lives and the Student National Medical Association.

ROB CARLIN PHOTOGRAPHY

The Medical School is rigorously expanding its recruiting to achieve greater representation of applicants traditionally underrepresented in medicine and the health sciences from across the nation, strictly applying holistic review, and identifying and eliminating admission tools that may 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 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. 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.” ■