Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

In medicine, we are currently confronting how racial injustice has created inequities in clinical practice, biomedical research, and academic advancement. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai pioneered a change-management strategy that effectively addresses the root causes of systemic racism. Our Medical School was selected as one of the 11-school cohort that will replicate their project to dismantle deeply entrenched practices and make truly transformational change.

Developed in collaboration with U of MN Salary, Resource, and Leadership Equity Action Group. The Medical School Office of Faculty Affairs 2020-21 Academic Year Report begins on page 37.

The Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota experienced prolonged unrest in 2020 largely as a cultural reckoning on topics of racial injustice. A number of events occurred beginning soon after the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020 (source). 

The links below are provided as an overview of the response, and ongoing efforts, from our community, and the University of Minnesota;

• George Floyd: The Minneapolis’ community at the heart of the protests - BBC News (YouTube)

• Minneapolis Had This Coming - The Atlantic

• UMN Office of the President Statement 

• UMN Office for Equity & Diversity Statement on the Murder of George Floyd (6-4-20)  

• UMN Medical School Statement on the Death of George Floyd

• UMN Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education Statement

• UMN Department of Surgery Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council

Plastic Surgery faculty members and residents who participated in recruitment completed the Race and Gender-Career Implicit Association Tests, reflected on their results, and utilized strategies to reduce/neutralize implicit bias during all recruitment activities. They were also instructed to watch the 6/15/2020 AAMC webinar "Focusing on diversity: Promoting mission-aligned medical school admission and residency selection processes," for an overview of racism and bias as it relates to healthcare, medical school admissions, and residency selection. 

Recruited applicants have the opportunity to attend a U of MN GME DEI Advisory Group informational meeting around the time of their interview. Vice Dean Núnez and Associate Dean Culican provided an overview of the impact and aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Applicants also had the opportunity to attend "breakout groups" on the topics of; -Life in Minnesota - What is it like to live, work and be in Minnesota, particularly for transplants? -LGBTQI+ -International Medical Graduates. 

To improve the selection of residents of marginalized genders (female, agender, non-binary, etc.), LGBTQIA, and racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession (URM), our Selection Committee considers the applicant's "Distance Traveled to Residency," which gives additional weight to applicants who have experienced a path against odds to medicine. We also utilized Structured Interview Questions and a Situational Judgment Test developed by Michael J. Cullen, Ph.D., Director of Evaluation at U of MN GME. These are both standardized, validated tools that help programs gain insight into applicants' professionalism and interpersonal skills. These tools provided us with a more holistic overview of the candidate's abilities. Following interviews, program leadership explored several different combinations of scoring category weights in order to obtain a rank list with an evenly distributed mix of applicants. 

Program leadership also reviewed the invited and interviewed applicant demographic data, and obtained feedback from the Selection Committee to identify areas for improvement next recruitment season. With the support of our Medical School, GME office, and the Department of Surgery, we are making improvements to ensure an inclusive training environment to retain diverse residents who join our program. An example of this is a recent networking brunch for Minnesota Black American Doctors (MNBAD), and a BIPOC Orientation Happy Hour in May 2021, both of which were open to all trainees. The GME Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Group in partnership with the Medical School and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) has committed to staffing and financially supporting these endeavors annually. 

The Department of Surgery’s DEI Council, which was created in July 2020, guides departmental DEI initiatives and efforts to ensure movement and action towards a diverse and inclusive department. Residents and fellows from all surgical specialties were invited to join any of the six teams that make up the council; Trainees, Communications, Internal Education and Training, Recruitment, Hiring and Retention, Policy and Public Health, or Research. The Council hosts a periodic DEI Council Journal Club, which has covered topics such as; Unconscious Bias in Physicians, Historical context of racial inequities in access to healthcare, and Raced Based Medicine. All faculty, residents, and staff are invited to attend. This helps develop a shared framework of anti-racism efforts among faculty, residents, and staff, which we expect will lead to a more inclusive teaching and learning environment.

Diversity in Other Individuals Participating in the Program

Program leadership reviews faculty diversity, recruitment, and retention rates during our annual meeting. Program leadership understands that this is a significant area for improvement in our program, and endeavors to hire and appoint faculty of marginalized genders, LGBTQIA, and URM to leadership positions when able to do so. We are also aware of external threats in this area. We are a decentralized training program, with faculty and administrative staff based at multiple sites throughout the Twin Cities metro area (Minneapolis and St.Paul) and surrounding suburbs. Each site varies in its policies and processes for improving diversity and inclusion. In addition, the Twin Cities has some of the highest rates of economic and educational racial disparities of any other city in the US, which adds to the challenge of successfully recruiting and retaining URM faculty and staff.