Diversity

Mission

The Department of Medicine at the University of Washington is committed to increasing the recruitment, retention and advancement of faculty, fellows and residents from groups under-represented in medicine as well as to promote an inclusive environment across the department.

Faculty development

The department currently has a robust faculty mentoring program and we plan to increase our underrepresented minority (URM) retention by developing a minority faculty mentoring program. Mentoring is an essential element for faculty career advancement in academic medicine.

A strong mentoring relationship contributes to academic success, productivity, and career satisfaction. Despite the known benefits of mentoring, the lack of mentoring remains a persistent problem in academic medicine, particularly in faculty from URM.

Given that URM faculty are promoted at lower rates, and report lower career satisfaction, the need for a dynamic mentoring program is even greater for junior URM faculty members. 

Recruitment

All members of Department of Medicine search committees participate in Equity, Access, and Inclusion in Hiring training on best practices regarding faculty candidate outreach, assessment, recruitment and retention. 

Visiting Scholars Program

The Visiting Scholars Program (VSP), started in 2015,  is a funded program designed to give students with a diverse background a chance to experience the training that the University of Washington Department of Medicine has to offer. 

 "I was interested in the UW because of its mission for serving underserved populations, as well as its track record for educational achievement."

-Christopher Ghiathi, first visiting scholar

Diversity lectures

• In February 2015, Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones from Morehouse School of Medicine presented: “Naming, Measuring, and Addressing Racism and Other Systems of Structured Inequity” at Medicine Grand Rounds.  Dr. Jones is a senior fellow at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute.
• Dr. Ebony Boulware, professor and head of General Internal Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, presented: "Read the signs? Helping patients achieve health literacy in health care" on October 20, 2016. 
• Dr. Eliseo J. Perez-Stable presented: “Reducing disparities in health outcomes: NIMHD agenda on equity” on March 2, 2017. Dr. Perez-Stable is the Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) at the National Institutes of Health.