Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Our diversity mission statement:

The University of Vermont Department of Emergency Medicine is committed to high quality healthcare delivery for everyone in our community, while fostering an academic learning environment that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive of all members. The focus of the division’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives will be to promote a community and culture that is built upon and cultivates equity, collaboration, and diversity in our teaching, research, scholarship, and community outreach in line with the missions of UVM, LCOM, and the UVMMC. The UVM Emergency Medicine Residency Program is focused on creating globally minded, culturally competent, socially aware, and comprehensively trained emergency medicine residents.


Ramsey Gender Equity

Governor Madeleine Kunin and Dean Richard L. Page, MD, on March 4, 2020, presented our Department Chair, Dr. Ramsey Herrington, with the Gender Equity Champion Award, for demonstrating outstanding commitment and service to the advancement of women and those with underrepresented gender identities.

Our residency program promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion, and advocates for communities of color through these initiatives:
  • Creating an inter-professional Department DEI Committee
  • Engaging in multi-disciplinary collaborative didactic sessions, including Interdisciplinary Grand Rounds (with Peds, EM, Surgery, Pathology, etc.) biannually
  • Creating a Social Determinants of Health Curriculum for 4th year EM clerkship curriculum in collaboration with EM Clerkship Director 
  • Incorporating mandatory implicit bias training for all faculty members of the EM Application Review Committee and all medical student interviewers, and creating a holistic application review rubric that prioritizes diversity
  • An annual summary report regarding diversity of applicant pool and interviews offered is submitted by the EM Residency Program Director to the Department Chair.
  • Creating a DEI didactic curriculum for the EM program: up to four conference hours dedicated per year
  • Promoting diversity and gender equity in invited speaker selection, including grand rounds presentations
  • Gender Equity Report Card: annual data collection for the Department includes faculty salary, nonclinical FTE, promotion status, and leadership roles with comparisons between those that identify as male and those that identify as female – the Department Chair uses this data when making decisions annually to promote gender equity
  • Initiating a By-stander/Upstander curriculum on diversity (simulation-based curriculum)
  • Department DEI Director and Department Chair both completed the Our Common Ground Certificate Diversity Training (through the UVM Peace and Justice Center)
  • Creating a faculty-sponsored Diversity Scholarship for visiting medical students for each academic year
  • Creating a grant-funded Gender-Affirming Care curriculum for all patient-facing staff in the Emergency Department at UVMMC 
  • Requiring all Search Committee members for the Department of EM to review the UVM Affirmative Recruitment and Hiring Guidelines and Policies, and to request statements from all faculty candidates regarding how they would contribute to our missions around diversity, equity, and inclusion 

Faculty

Katie Wells, MD, MPH, our Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), partners with the EM Department Chair, Dr. Herrington, to lead efforts enhancing diversity and supporting an inclusive environment. Dr. Wells collaborates with the Larner COM Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) to promote diversity in the recruitment, development, and advancement of EM faculty members. She also partners with the Residency Program Director, Dr. Bounds, to enhance our ongoing efforts and recruitment of resident trainees and students. Dr. Wells serves as the Chair for the Department of EM Committee on DEI (including residents, attendings, pharmacists, nurses, techs, research staff, social workers, and community partners) to inform DEI best practices within the Emergency Department.

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