We have entered the month of May, more than a year into the COVID pandemic, and almost a year since the murder of George Floyd. Floyd’s murder rocked our nation’s consciousness, illuminating the disproportionate violence towards communities of color and highlighting the insidious ways that this violence affects those communities daily. Since we last wrote, a guilty verdict was reached in the trial of Derek Chauvin. The trial and verdict produced a wide range of emotions. We personally realized how conditioned we had become to our communities being disparaged without accountability, since we were so worried the outcome would be different. In some ways this feeling is still part of the reality, as we witness ongoing attacks on individuals and communities for who they are.

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Meanwhile, we continue to battle COVID, and we are actively working to ensure our communities are vaccinated. Many of you have volunteered your time and energy to help the Ravenswood clinic (and others) get our local community vaccinated. In an effort to combat vaccine hesitancy across multiple groups, members of our department have filmed short Public Service Announcements which have just been released and are being disseminated widely. If you are interested in being part of this effort, please contact us.

We hope you were able to attend this month’s faculty meeting where our chair, Bob Harrington, reviewed the department’s efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Inclusion 2021 is well underway, and we would like to introduce to you a new forum we are starting called “Inclusion Rounds.” These will occur periodically throughout the year.

The first session will be held on May 13 at noon and will feature Dr. Jennifer Young from the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, who will review the history of anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. and will outline steps to take to combat anti-Asian hate. The session will be moderated by our colleague Dr. Joy Wu. We’ll hold another Inclusion Rounds in June on anti-Black Racism and the history of Juneteenth.

The larger Medical Grand Rounds series will also continue to bring a focus to inclusion, with Drs. Latha Palaniappan and Bryant Lin kicking off Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month this week and Dr. Mitch Lunn and his colleague Dr. Juno Obedin-Maliver speaking about LGBTQ+ health during the June PRIDE month.

One other notable event will take place this month: The 4^th Annual Diversity and Inclusion Forum, which will be held on Friday, May 21 from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. This forum will showcase the workshops of the LEAD scholars, some of whom are trainees from the department.

We’re also including a request for a voluntary survey by our colleagues in Ophthalmology, led by Dr. Caroline Fisher. This survey seeks to understand the use of language and terminology around diversity, equity, and inclusion among medical school faculty. You can participate here.

Thank you as always for your engagement and please join us as we continue to celebrate diversity, inclusion, and equity in all forms.

Wendy Caceres and Tamara Dunn

Associate Chairs – Diversity and Inclusion

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For Inclusion 2021, we’ll be hosting a year-long, virtual celebration with engaging monthly programming and events.

Our Diversity Chair Investigator Award program provides four grants of $50,000 each to young investigators whose research is focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and the elimination of health care disparities. Applications are now open for 2021.