Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The clinic faculty within the Department of Surgery are dedicated to building a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment for all. To fulfill this commitment, we are going to focus on the following projects, and welcome anyone from Stanford Surgery to join and participate in these initiatives and committees.

1. Baseline Assessment of Demographics and Workforce Opinions: the goal is to obtain more detailed information not only on our current workforce demographics, but to also gain more insight into our culture, belonging and inclusion here, and better understand engagement and priorities areas in this field for our colleagues.

2. Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Projects (JEDI Projects): the goal is the help promote research and initiatives in this field, and we plan to fund 5-10 projects a year of $1,000-$5,000, with year end JEDI Project Presentations to share project outcomes. We also plan to build these projects into the residency curriculum, with one JEDI project required during the entire course of residency. We feel this will promote more productivity in our DEI efforts and increase exposure to this work for all residents.

3. Increase Visibility: the goal is to increase our network and our reach by harnessing social media, building DEI campaigns and the start of a DEI quarterly newsletter. We foresee a Stanford Surgery DEI specific twitter account highlighting not only our work, but those of our colleagues across the country. We envision starting a DEI commitment campaign, initial thoughts include: “At STANFORD, we STANd FOR: Diversity” (Social         Justice, Inclusion, Equity, Anti-Racism, etc). The quarterly newsletter will also highlight our ongoing work as well as share resources for our community.

Our charge is to support diversity, equity and inclusion and while our research-focused group recognizes ongoing challenges in recruitment and retention pipelines, we saw an opportunity to put DEI in action through an elevation pipeline.

The goal is to develop a direct, sustainable mentoring practice that elevates the individual and their research program. This may come through collaborative research projects, co-writing grant applications, to championing the research program of a member to national and international audiences. Promoting the research work product of our DEI candidates through the press and word-of-mouth communication with leader in a field can directly contribute to creating an environment where everyone feels heard, welcomed, and appreciated.

Buddy Program for Staff

• Mission: create a more inclusive onboarding process to new hires that fosters a sense of belonging and acceptance into the Stanford Surgery community
• Goal: ensure that all new staff hires in the Department of Surgery feel connected and supported from day one, thus promoting increased productivity, job satisfaction, and employee retention

Quarterly Staff Education & Group Discussion

• All staff are required to participate in at least two hours of DEI education per quarter.  

Diversity Through Food Initiative

• At least six discretionary events in each division must by catered by a minority or woman or persons with disabilities-owned business.
• Culturally-Inclusive Food Fairs will highlight foods from a variety of cultures and feature minority-owned businesses.

The goals of the JEDI Council Trainees Sub-Committe are:

•Create an environment that is inclusive for minority residents and fellows

•Develop a more collaborate environment between faculty and residents for recruitment and diversity events

•Promote importance of surgical disparities research and create awareness of research done in this area

Projects they are looking to tackle include:

1. A reporting system that allows residents to raise concerns around culturally insensitive encounters, harassment or discrimination and to receive timely support when these incidence occur

2. Propose faculty involvement and engagement during recruitment events of under-representative minority – e.g sign-up sheet

3. Propose funding/research award and opportunities for PD resident interested in surgical disparity research