UMass Chan Medical School
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

With the onboarding of six new members this year, along with the current members of the DIO team, UMass Chan has been able to build capacity to move DEI efforts forward and engage in a transformational change strategy and process toward becoming a diverse and inclusive environment free from bias. Further, the DIO office is equipped to provide the departments with resources, training and data that will help guide their efforts as well as allow them to realize and monitor their DEAP goals. The DIO office has been meeting with departments to provide guidance and share best practices, as well as assist with the monitoring of progress and outcome measurement.

In collaboration with UMass Memorial Health and the Office of Health Equity, the DIO launched and led a group of DEI liaisons that consisted of faculty representatives from every academic and clinical department tasked with staying abreast of the UMass Chan and UMass Memorial diversity initiatives, priorities and concerns. Led by the DIO, this group meets monthly to discuss updates, advise administrators on DEI-related concerns and issues, and provide mutual counsel and support across departments. With the development of the DEI liaisons, we hope to build capacity to engage in DEI efforts across departments and both institutions.

The DIO also developed a DEI policy to guide our institution’s ongoing DEI efforts. The DEI policy represents a multipronged approach that includes:
1) Best practices to attract, retain, support, and promote students, faculty, and staff from groups underrepresented in medicine and medical education;
2) Programs and strategies to establish an equitable and inclusive environment where all learners, faculty, and staff can live, learn, work and be successful; and
3) Curricula that advances health equity and social justice. Our institution’s DEI policy also commits to conducting a periodic review of our efforts to assess their effectiveness and impact, and commits to reporting these results on an annual basis to the UMass Chan community in order to ensure the appropriate investment of resources to effectively sustain these efforts.

UMass Chan Medical School is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable learning and work environment. The Diversity and Inclusion Office's training program includes high impact diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) workshops that utilize innovative instructional design to support DEI professional development and capacity building efforts across UMass Chan Medical School.

Creating an inclusive environment at UMass Chan Medical School is everybody’s responsibility. Our foundations workshops are intended for staff, faculty, and learners of all levels to provide a foundation in DEI to support more advanced skill building.

All employees take DEI and bias training through HR. Students are required to attend a DEI session as part of their orientation.