Department Initiatives
DEPARTMENT INITIATIVES
Several UMSOM Departments and Units have organized new discussion and meeting groups, or have re-energized existing groups, focused on culture and diversity issues.
- Women in Surgery (WIS) is led by Sheri Slezak, MD, and Kimberly Lumpkins, MD. This group in the Department of Surgery provides formal structured opportunities for women faculty and residents to meet to review common concerns, and to develop an action agenda for improving culture in the department.
- Development and leadership programs for women. The Departments of Anesthesiology, Neurology and Pediatrics. have each held faculty development leadership and mentorship programs for their women faculty. Shock Trauma has initiated a leadership development program for women and men to develop “citizenship skills” for leading and managing in a diverse and complex academic environment. Several of these programs model teaching and learning in inter-professional teams.
- A CTI Innovation Forum will become an annual meeting for department faculty, staff, students and trainees to present curricula or other innovations related to culture transformation. The forum will highlight outcomes from programs and activities initiated in individual departments and units.
- Independent Advocacy Group: Women in Medicine & Science (WIMS). An early goal of the CTI was to support the implementation and early organization of a UMSOM WIMS group for women faculty of the UMSOM. The group links to national WIMS organizations and to local student, staff and campus WIMS groups.
An early organizational WIMS meeting was held in mid-February. At the meeting, a new leadership structure was approved, and a process for leadership elections and for launching sub-committees was initiated. The first action item of this newly-formed group was to host the first annual Celebration of Women in Medicine on September 26, 4-6 pm in Leadership Hall. This event, supported by the Office of the Dean, will celebrate women promoted in 2019. The UMSOM WIMS website has launched, and further information is available at www.medschool.umaryland.edu/WIMS
“The CTI was pivotal in supporting the founding of SOM WIMS, an independent advocacy organization for women faculty, at the UMSOM. WIMS is excited to support the CTI Gender Salary Equity Study and the Promotions Pathway Initiative, which will recognize the contributions of clinician educators We anticipate fruitful collaboration with the CTI to ensure that ours is a safe, diverse and respectful environment for all faculty.”
