Pediatric Residency Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
As pediatricians training in a city filled with its own diversity and rich cultural history, we recognize the importance of addressing diversity, health equity, and inclusion within our program. As such, the program is proud to recognize the presence and work of its Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, a resident-based initiative
Our Guiding Principles
To achieve these goals, we created a group with the following divisions:
- Arm 1: Recruitment and Retention
- Arm 2: Curriculum Advancement
- Arm 3: Research
- Arm 4: Inclusivity and Engagement
Recent Successes
- Increased recruitment and retention efforts by hosting a pre-interview season mixer and multiple DEI social hours for interested residency and fellowship applicants
- Further development of a longitudinal cultural humility curriculum, encouraging discussion of systemic inequities and tools for providers to address them, ensuring ongoing dedication to the education of residents. Resident- and faculty-inclusive health equity focused presentations and efforts include:
- Milwaukee-specific education and DEI introduction during intern orientation
- DEI Intern Morning Reports
- DEI Noon Conferences
- Senior-led Health Equity Rounds
- DEI Retreat Activities for each class
- Annual DEI Journal Club
- DEI Podcast Club
- DEI Book Corner
- Collecting a series of assessments to track resident knowledge, comfort, skills, and behavior in dealing with diversity in the workplace with the aim of using this information in scholarly activity to aid in further curricular development
- Engaging with the larger hospital system to ensure our dedication to diversity is sustainable and responding to feedback from outgoing and incoming physicians
- Engaging with fellowship and faculty dedicated to health equity to increase opportunities for curriculum development and research focused on our principles
Future Goals
- Continuing to enhance our cultural humility curriculum and its goals into a cornerstone that will live permanently and grow within our program
- Increasing recruitment and retention of residents that are traditionally underrepresented in medicine
- Creating established mentorship relationships for students, residents, and fellows interested in engaging with diversity, equity, and inclusion work throughout their careers
- Increasing our community engagement with the goal of learning from the experiences of our communities to improve the care we provide to all populations
Committee Leadership
Christine Fernandez
Recruitment
PGY-2
cfernandez@mcw.edu
Caitlin Pook
Recruitment
PGY-2
cpook@mcw.edu
Alex Bryant
Omeed Ghassemi
Advocacy
PGY-2
oghassemi@mcw.edu
Marisa Roman
Paul Otto
Outreach
PGY-3
peotto@mcw.edu
Kelsey Wilson
Curriculum
PGY-3
kewilson@mcw.edu
Allison Jhin
Curriculum
PGY-3
ajhin@mcw.edu
Chondraah Holmes, DO
Recruitment, Retention
PGY-3
chholmes@mcw.edu
Kaitlyn Miller, MD
Recruitment, Retention
PGY-3
kaimiller@mcw.edu
Recent Graduates
- Ashleigh Watson, MD
- Michelle Hwang, MD
- Oluwasoore Akande, DO
- Robert Trevino, MD, PhD
- Swathi Prasad, MD
Program Support and Resources
- The MCW Office of Diversity and Inclusion
- Children’s Wisconsin’s Office of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity
For questions or more information, please contact any of our resident representatives.