By Staff, For Staff:�Embedding Anti-Racism Within Your Department

Joanna Ames, China Hardison, Susan Marx, and Kelsey Pullar

Department of Surgery

UW School of Medicine

October 20, 2021

Department of Surgery (DoS): �Who We Are

DoS DIVERSITY COUNCIL

Jorge Reyes, MD

Kathleen Berfield, MD

Andre Dick, MD

Marlie Elia, MD

Deci Evans

China Hardison

Suzanne Inchauste, MD

Colette Inaba, MD

Sydney Kaser

Mukta Krane, MD

Reggie Nkansah, MD

Lara Oyetunji, MD

Tam Pham, MD

Elina Quiroga, MD

Beth Ann Rimel, MD

Elina Serrano, MD

Rebecca Stark, MD

Nam Tran, MD

Denzel Woode, MD

Andrew Wright, MD

Peter Wu, MD

Estell Williams, MD

Giana Davidson, MD

Paula Houston, Ed.D

Brant Oelschlager, MD

Jaqueline Valdez Gonzalez

DoS Diversity Council: �How do we see diversity?

• Understanding and appreciating interdependence of humanity, cultures, and the natural environment.
• Practicing mutual respect for the lived experiences of people whose backgrounds are different from our own.
• Acknowledging that personal, cultural and institutionalized discrimination creates and sustains privileges for some while creating and sustaining disadvantages for others.
• Building alliances across differences so that we can work together to eradicate all forms of discrimination.

Excerpt from Dr. Estell Williams’ article, “Diversity in the Department of Surgery,” Surgery Synopsis, Winter 2018-19

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Diversity is a set of conscious practices that involve:

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A Movement at UW Medicine: 

Doctors for Justice March on June 6, 2020 

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Organized and led by Dr. Estell Williams & Edwin Lindo, JD

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Why Create a Separate Staff Forum?

Do something: Action rooted in empathy, desire for change

Where do we go from here?

• What does an anti-racism workgroup mean?
• What are the goals?
• How do we move from statements to action?
• How is success measured? Who decides what metrics to use?
• How do we identify best practices? 
• Who has done this work and what can we learn?
• How to develop resources without recreating the wheel?

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Anti-Racism Workgroup Established August 3, 2020

Anti-Racism Workgroup Charter

• PASSION – Ask for volunteers who are enthusiastic, passionate and dedicated
• BE BOLD – Bold ideas for the future state of where we want and should be
• BE HONEST (SINCERE) – Builds trust
• DIG IN AND DO THE WORK - Roll up our sleeves to advance meaningful change in processes & practices
• Burden of the work mainly on white contributors with BIPOC input and consultation 
• Don’t assume or direct that BIPOC colleagues should take this work on

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Ground rules

Pay People for their Work

• RECOGNITION: we have BIPOC team members at the table who are historically *not* paid for their contributions
• PRIORITIZATION: This work is our shared priority – above and beyond their normal jobs – a weekly commitment, plus workstreams
• VALUE: With concurrence of Chair of Diversity Council, Chair of the Department, we offered staff TPS
• $500 per Academic Year for Anti-Racism Workgroup
• $500 per Academic Year for Diversity Council
• Strongly encouraged white team members to donate back to anti-racist organizations or non-profits that promote this work

This is not “other duties as assigned”

Workstreams

Department Ongoing Training

Monthly Staff Meetings: Anti-Racism Education Series interwoven with guest speakers involved in DEI, Anti-Racism work

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• May 2021: Dr. Jonathan Kanter Microaggressions: “What Are They, Why They Hurt, And What To Do About Them in Our Medical System”

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• September 2021: Sara Kim, PhD, “Boosting Our Interpersonal Conflict Skills”

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• December 2021: Dr. Leo Morales on anti-racism in healthcare equity

• March 2022: Dr. Elina Quiroga on racism and bias in medicine, in recruitment

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Workstreams

Hiring and Training

• Leaned heavily on UW Total Talent Management, POD and external University/Academic system resources

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• Hiring Checklist and Resources
• Use standardized, structured tools & processes to aide hiring committees/mangers in recruitment, interviews, selection
• Reduce institutional & unconscious bias to improve the validity of hiring processes & outcomes.
• Systems reproduce themselves; working to correct years of racist/biased systems
• Toolkit launched; Training in development

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Workstreams

• Revised Core Competencies: Launched separately to emphasize and embed DEI within Department culture
• Team: Anti-Racism workgroup member, HR, Vice Chair

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Updated Competencies: 2021

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Quality Focus

Planning & Organization

Teamwork & Relationship Building

People Management

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Prior Competencies: 2006

Excellence

Quantity of Work

Quality of Work

Interpersonal Relationships

Professionalism

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Lessons Learned & �Questions Outstanding

• White urgency will not fix 400 years of oppression overnight; requires consistent focus, listening, humility and forward momentum
• Racism didn’t start with black and brown people in this country
• Onus to fix is not on our black and brown colleagues, yet is a fine line of welcoming BIPOC perspective vs. expecting BIPOC participation
• Good intentions do not sustain anti-racism efforts; long game requires commitment
• Grappling with incremental change vs trying to make monumental change – is good enough really good enough? 
• Change is not about white comfort
• Asking for “buy-in” can be interpreted as code for white comfort

Lessons Learned & �Questions Outstanding, continued

• Open dialogue to reckon with long-standing systems is tough all-around; establishing trust in ultimate goals and each other builds foundations for change

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• How to balance retro-fitting processes locally (reactive) vs centralized, concerted effort across all depts (pro-active)

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• Struggling with how to incorporate health equity lens into clinical and outcomes research; broader systems issue

DoS Anti-Racism Workgroup

Participants

Joanna Ames

Toby Chen

John Comes

Margot DuBois

Deci Evans

Ellison Fidler

China Hardison

Stephanie Herrera

Madison Hollcroft

Camille Korolak

Anne Long

Sandra Mata-Diaz

Susan Marx

Kelsey Pullar

Judith Rapp

Savannah Tam

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Questions / Panel Discussion

The mission of the Department of Surgery is to provide high-quality patient care, train future generations of surgical leaders, and conduct research in a collegial environment which embraces diversity and promotes inclusiveness.

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