Diversity in the Divisions
A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Department of Medicine isn’t just lip service from those at the top. It’s backed up with activities every day by both faculty and staff across all our Divisions and sites for the benefit of those within UCSF as well as our patients and communities. Read more below about how some individual Divisions are raising awareness and creating a culture welcoming to everyone.
Endocrine
The Division of Endocrinology has incorporated speakers who are working on health equity projects into their Grand Rounds and are including consideration of DEI and social justice activities or clinical work when reviewing fellowship candidates. They recently launched a DEI newsletter to provide resources and updates across the Division.
Hospital Medicine
UCSF Health
The Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health supports more than two dozen projects that address health equity topics such as aging, food insecurity, COVID outcomes, and bias in clinical notes.
The Division also has an anti-racist task force, and their social medicine efforts include training faculty and staff to engage in dialogue, identify gaps, and co-design solutions towards health equity and justice for hospitalized patients. The goal of these endeavors is to improve clinical outcomes, address the social and structural determinants of patients’ health, and build community partnerships.
Find out more about Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health
ZSFG
The Division of Hospital Medicine at ZSFG is fully integrated into the overall ZSFG hospital-wide efforts, including as members of the equity council, incorporating equity outcomes in QI projects, and incorporating reflections on the role of bias and racism in clinical care into M&Ms.
A race-conscious approach, a toolkit to ensure equitable curriculum design, and checklists to interrupt bias are all resources used in teaching and supervising students.
HIV, ID and Global Medicine
Faculty and staff in the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at ZSFG have completed extensive diversity champion training and has access to monthly cultural competency sessions. Grand Rounds and the CFAR lecture series features topics on health disparities and equity in HIV medicine.
The Division has focused on the recruitment diverse fellows to the fellowship program and in fellowship equity initiatives, including the creation of a Fellowship Diversity Committee, which promotes community building and skill building across UIM fellows. DEI-focused lectures have also been incorporated into the ID fellows core curriculum.
Infectious Diseases
The Division of Infectious Diseases at UCSF Health supports a DEI Champion as well as a DEI committee made up of both faculty and staff. Faculty meetings include regularly schedule DEI learning activities.
Internal Medicine
In the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF Health, a 10-member Diversity Council is committed to promoting an inclusive and equitable culture that supports and celebrates diversity across DGIM. This includes updating outreach, hiring, retention and attrition policies and creating guidelines to help managers resolve interpersonal issues between employees.
To improve health equity and end health disparities for patients and the community, DGIM engages in legislative advocacy, operates a “food pharmacy” which also distributes nutrition information and provides health cooking demonstrations, and has plans to expand a taxi voucher program for patients with transportation needs.
In academics, curricula have been updated to include social and behavioral medicine seminars, community-engaged advocacy, and health policy.
Nephrology
Fellows in the Division of Nephrology attend DEI sessions as part of their core curriculum, involving case-based discussions using real life or prepared scenarios, sometimes with guest speakers. Grand Rounds also features diverse speakers, and topics regularly address racial disparities in care. Their research initiatives have expanded to promote antiracism, including study results that have been widely published in both the popular media and the peer reviewed literature.
Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine
To be the preeminent Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine program in the world providing comprehensive medical care, training the next generation of academic leaders, generating innovative research, and prioritizing the values of social justice, inclusion, and equity.
Activities:
- Have held DEI-focused faculty meetings at each campus (UCSF Parnassus, ZSFG, VA)
- Created an anti-racism reading list for the division
- Started an every two-month DEI Happy Hour for faculty, staff, and trainees to discuss different topics. Sessions have included discussions of podcasts (Heather McGee discussing her book, “The Sum of Us”) and books.
- Implemented a Nina Ireland Scholar Program to recruit fellows from groups historically excluded from medicine and have strong promise for a research career.
- ZSFG-site specific hosting of undergraduates from UC Berkeley that are from traditionally excluded groups in medicine or first in family to go to college (BICEP).
- Hosted Dr. Camara Jones to speak on racism at our 2021 faculty retreat and our own Dr. Denise Davis to lead our 2022 all-division retreat.
- Host several faculty and trainees that lead equity-focused research programs, run pipeline programs, and hold local and national roles in DEI.
- Created a tri-hospital wide (Dr. Antonio Gomez) and ZSFG-specific (Dr. Neeta Thakur) position for DEI in addition to a steering committee that consists of four members.
Rheumatology
The Division of Rheumatology at ZSFG has been focusing its DEI efforts on its fellowship program, in recruitment and selection as well as in its core curriculum. Core curriculum now includes a DEI thread with topics from microaggressions to health disparities in rheumatology. Training modules developed for use in their curriculum have been presented nationally.
It offers a Cultural Competency Series which they have made available to faculty from other clinics on campus.