16 Dec Don’t wait on legislation to begin leveraging DEI

By Gelise Littlejohn Thomas, Clinical Leader

Industry and academia alike are experiencing a greater urgency for awareness, education, understanding, and application of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in research and medicine. Forty-four percent of medical schools have tenure and promotion policies that reward scholarship on “diversity, inclusion, and equity” while 70 percent require students take a course on “diversity, inclusion, or cultural competence.” The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) also released a set of guidelines on diversity, equity, and inclusion competencies across the learning curriculum in July 2022. This begs the question of whether people are willing to move from the comfort of “recommended” training to the potential discomfort and discord inherent in “required” training. If the biomedical research enterprise chooses to prioritize DEI beyond statements, it has an opportunity to craft robust strategies and systems that will have intended outcomes and impact reflecting principles and values of DEI in research programs and studies. These research programs and studies that are built on a DEI foundation will inevitably have a positive influence on the trajectory of goals that include increasing diversity in clinical trials and cultivating inclusive environments for the biomedical research workforce. Read more …