As any seasoned UA COM-P Camelback hiker can tell you, a bag full of only M&Ms does not qualify as trail mix. Rather, it is the mix of salty and sweet that makes the tasty snack. The Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Committee at The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix strives to achieve the tastiest assortment of diverse backgrounds, beliefs, orientations, and perspectives to sustain our students on the Everest-level trek that is medical school.
Championed by Interim Chair Sonji Muhammad, the D&I Committee includes representatives from the first- and second-year medical classes, the clinical and basic science faculty, staff, and several community members, each bringing a dash of nuts, dried fruit, and seeds into the mix.
The committee operates under the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and is responsible for the strategic development and analysis of the curriculum and community experience of the Health Sciences complex. To that end, it shares the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s strategic plan to foster an inclusive institutional culture, enhance the diversity of the workforce, improve training for the future’s workforce, and support research and scholarship.
Through their quarterly meetings, this interdisciplinary group reflects on successful changes and identifies potential for improvement within the realms of academia and campus environment. Highlights from their most recent meeting include: discussion on diversity in standardized patient representation in the longitudinal Doctoring program; introducing minority group health concerns into the weekly small group Case Based Instruction (CBI) lessons; and the value of the LGBTQ+ Med SafeZone training during the Intro To Medicine (ITM) block at the start of the first-year experience.
Also this fall semester, the trail mix development program is hiring a new taste-tester extraordinaire. The top three finalists identified for the position of assistant or associate dean of diversity and inclusion each presented here on campus during October. It is with great enthusiasm and optimism for the future growth of this department that the committee awaits this leadership development.
Though content with the nutritional and flavor content of our student experience trail mix is already hearty and delectable, the D&I Committee is committed to improving the individual components to ensure they remain fresh, relevant, inviting, and just sweet enough to satisfy the sweet tooth. These sweet and salty pillars of diversity and inclusion are forever advancing, changing, and improving. The committee members are passionate and proud to keep making UA COM-P’s trail mix the best snack for our physicians-in-training.
Your 2016/17 “gorp group” consists of:
- Linda Nelson MD, PhD – clinical faculty
- Rebecca Fisher, PhD, BS – basic science faculty
- Jessica Tualla – staff, human resources
- Patty Hamilton, MPH – staff, admissions and recruitment
- Svadharma Keerthi, MS2 – student
- Luce Kassi, MS2 – student
- Dylan Sabb, MS1 – student
- Sue Pepin, MD – community Member
- Kathy Laity, PhD – community Member
- Sonji Muhammad – interim committee chair, campus administration
Dylan Sabb is a member of the class of 2020 at The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. He graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina in 2014 where he majored in biology with a minor in Hispanic studies. In his spare time, he enjoys running, drawing, and watercolor painting. He also enjoys international travel and frequents live theater productions. Dylan may be reached at dmsabb[at]email.arizona.edu for questions or comments.