Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Resident Recruitment and Support

Overview

The Internal Medicine Residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital is dedicated to providing outstanding clinical training and individualized mentorship to enable our residents to become leaders in Internal Medicine. With our rich academic environment, we are committed to advancing health equity and racial justice, fostering creativity and innovation, pursuing new medical knowledge, and cultivating humanism in medicine. Our program supports each of our residents to achieve their personal goals, while belonging to a vibrant and supportive community.

For more information about the Internal Medicine residency, please click here.

Recruitment of URiM Residents

Drs. Valerie Stone and Carl Pallais co-lead URiM resident recruitment for the DOM residency program, substantially increasing the number of URiM candidates interviewed through a second screening process for all URiM applicants. They have also supported enhanced unconscious bias training for interviewers and worked with colleagues to offer URiM receptions and more dynamic “Second Look” event. The involvement of current residents has been critical to this work. As we continue our efforts to attract a more diverse pool of trainees to the department, our intern class for AY24-25 included 27% who reported coming from URiM backgrounds.

The URiM Second Look Event and the URiM Applicant Receptions have been held virtually over the past few years due to COVID-19, but have been attended by many URiM faculty, fellows, and residents and served as wonderful community-building events.

Support of URiM Residents

While recruitment is vital to our work in the residency program, we are equally focused on ensuring the experience for our URiM residents is exceptional, and that we are responsive, supportive, and connecting. Dr. Stone offers to meet with all URiM residents to provide them support and to strengthen relationships and Dr. Jaji serves as the faculty advisor to both the DOM residency’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and its Racial Justice Health Committee.

Brigham Magazine, Photo by Stu Rosner

RESIDENT DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION COMMITTEE

The Brigham and Women’s Department of Medicine Resident Diversity and Inclusion Committee is committed to the following mission:

  • Promote greater diversity in the medicine residency program by recommending strategic initiatives to recruit, support, and retain residents and faculty from diverse and historically underrepresented backgrounds in medicine
  • Promote participation in activities advocating for and supporting underserved and disenfranchised communities of color in greater Boston
  • Communicate diversity and inclusion initiatives, actions and results to all interested parties throughout the residency program and the Department of Medicine
  • Serve as a professional and social support system for residents within the department that identify as underrepresented in medicine (UIM)

This committee works closely with Dr. Stone and the residency program leadership on efforts to advance diversity in the residency program, and to promote support, connection and community among URiM residents. The current chairs of the Resident D & I Committee for AY25 are Drs. Marcia Lange, Carla Rodriguez, Abdi Abdullahi, and Ramael Ohiomoba.

RACIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE

This committee organized and implemented a hospital Demonstration for Black Lives in June 2020. The Racial Justice Committee has been active in efforts to expand access to care at the Brigham, to enhance the availability of user-friendly interpretation options for patients whose first language is not English, and efforts to combat the inequities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Retention

Dr. Stone has collaborated with division chiefs and administrators to create attractive offers for URiM residents intending to become hospitalists following residency. Substantial effort has also put into accelerating the timeline of resident offers to put them on schedule or ahead of competing offers, further increasing the likelihood that they would be accepted.

Additional Information

    • Brigham Magazine published several articles about our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Health Equity efforts in the Department of Medicine, including how trainees and faculty are working to improve equity and change medicine. Kindling Change | Brigham Health (brighamandwomens.org)
    • Mass General Brigham has initiated United Against Racism (UAR), a long-term, multi-million-dollar commitment to address the many impacts that racism has on Mass General Brigham patients, employees and the broader community. We believe that systemic racism is a public health issue which impacts our patients, workforce and the communities we serve. Working collectively, we are taking action across the system to dismantle racism and learning as we go.