Drop in with the Office of DEI – As the Associate and Assistant Deans of DEI joined UMKC SOM during the pandemic, we recognize the need for the SOM community to have the opportunity to get to know us better including our plans for the Office of DEI. We plan to have regularly scheduled “drop ins” for people to stop by and say hello or to ask any questions. Please watch for more information about the dates, times and locations for these sessions at the Kansas City and St. Joseph campuses.
Anti-Racism and Cultural Bias Program – The program was formally incorporated into the School of Medicine curriculum with all medical students required to participate in the program prior to beginning clinical clerkships. Professor Mikah Thompson taught the first module entitled Cultural Self-Awareness/Cultural Sensibility during the 2020-2021 academic year. Remaining modules include Implicit Bias and Medicine, Privilege and White Fragility, The Social Construction of Race, Intersectionality, Microaggressions and Medicine, and Capstone. The Office of DEI is collaborating with the Office of Graduate Medical Education to expand the educational trainings about DEI to resident and fellowship trainees. More information coming in the future.
Critical Mass Gathering – The 16th Annual Critical Mass Gathering event was held on October 17-18, 2021 to support under-represented in medicine pre-medical and medical students as they traverse the continuum of a medical career. More than 100 participants attended the virtual event with seminars about financial literacy, specialty speed mentoring and networking, and discussion with the deans from the Kansas City medical schools. Chief Health Equity Officer from Humana Incorporated, J. Nwando Olayiwola, MD, MPH, provided the keynote address.
