The Department of Medicine is committed to building an environment that is inclusive, inviting and innovative so each member of our faculty and staff feels valued, supported and able to reach their greatest potential. We are proud to be leaders in an institution that has received so many awards for diversity and inclusion. The Mount Sinai Health System is ranked #1 in health care diversity by Forbes and DiversityInc. Seven of our health system hospitals have been named leaders in LGBTQ health care equality by the Human Rights Campaign. For the fourth year in a row, the Icahn School of Medicine has been recognized for its outstanding efforts in diversity and inclusion by INSIGHT Health. As the largest academic department in the school, the Department of Medicine believes that we play a critical role in the promotion and support of all people, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. The Department of Medicine also works in partnership with the Mount Sinai Health System's Office for Diversity and Inclusion to advance our efforts in fostering an equitable and inclusive workplace and patient care experience for our faculty, staff, students and trainees as well as our patients.
Office of Diversity and Inclusion
The Department of Medicine engages in a number of long-term activities designed to have a lasting and deep impact on the culture of our department. We have many members who actively participate in both institutional and departmental diversity councils. These groups work with leadership, faculty, housestaff, medical students and staff at all sites throughout the health system to promote diversity and inclusion. We track metrics, including the numbers of groups Underrepresented in Medicine (URM), noting trends over time and comparing them to national benchmarks. While we still have much work to do, we are pleased to report that the Department of Medicine faculty is 46% female (compared to a national average of 38%); and our URM representation is nine percent, compared to less than 6 percent nationwide). Our training programs are equally diverse with 48% of our residents being female and 16% coming from URM groups.
We have increased our visibility by attending national and regional conferences of the Student National Medical Association and Latino Medical Student Association. We invest significantly in a vibrant visiting electives program for URM students. These initiatives have enabled the department and the health system to expand the number of our URM trainees. Once those medical students have joined our residency, we provide robust and thoughtful mentorship and professional networking to ensure that they are supported throughout their training.
Finally, we are committed to training our current faculty and housestaff to continually foster an open and welcoming environment. We work with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond to bring CME accredited Undoing Racism Workshop to our campuses. We hold Cook-Ross Unconscious Bias-training sessions to make our faculty and staff aware of their own hidden prejudices. We are constantly considering how we can improve our communications to ensure that we remain a culturally sensitive and patient-centric department.