At Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, we are proud to be part of a health system that has demonstrated a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion — and recognize that these are key drivers for excellence and innovation. We seek to cultivate these core values within our residency program, department, and institution.
The Mount Sinai Health System is ranked among the nation’s top hospitals and health systems for diversity by DiversityInc. In addition, seven of our health system hospitals have been recognized as leaders in LGBTQ health care equality by the Human Rights Campaign. We work in partnership with the Mount Sinai 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, trainees, and patients.
We actively recruit and welcome residents from underrepresented backgrounds. Working with the Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs, we invite fourth year students from groups underrepresented in medicine to participate in four-week electives at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital through the Visiting Electives Program for Students Underrepresented in Medicine (VEPSUM).
Residents receive formal curriculum in racism and bias throughout their three years of training, including topics such as Everyday Bias in Clinical Medicine, Mitigating Racism through Clinical Teaching, Developing Anti-Racist Skills, and Navigating Racist and Sexist Patient Behavior. Our Health Equity Journal Club is co-led by members of our residency, social work and child life programs. In addition, residents are invited and encouraged to share in anti-racism efforts with the Department of Pediatrics (Chats for Change) as well as within the medical school (Change Now). Our Human Rights and Social Justice Leadership (HRSJL) Track is a new, two-year program designed to train pediatricians who will be leaders and agents of change, leveraging advocacy, social activism, research, and quality improvement to promote justice and health equity in marginalized and oppressed communities. Our Pediatrics departmental commitment to anti-racism can be found here.
The mission of the Pediatrics Diversity Committee at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital is to serve as a catalyst for change, promoting diversity and inclusiveness for all.
Led by Sharon M. Edwards, MD, the Vice Chair for Diversity Initiatives, our Pediatrics Diversity Committee is an integral part of the Department of Pediatrics. The committee continuously works to provide a platform for issues around equity and to promote health care delivery through a social justice lens. Our goal is to promote inclusiveness for all by:
- Strategically increasing the presence and visibility of Underrepresented in Medicine (URM) residents and faculty in our department
- Supporting our members and challenging racism at the institutional level and beyond
Comprised of a diverse group of Pediatrics faculty, our house staff, and social workers, our committee provides a forum for conversations about racism, privilege, and bias at our institution. We used those conversations to address the systemic practices in our department and institution, which ultimately affect our patients and colleagues. Supported wholeheartedly by our Chair, our department and training program serve as a model for directing conversations and driving change at the graduate medical education level. Our committee is open to all and we welcome new members!
“The Pediatric Residency Program at Mount Sinai has been committed to increasing and maintaining the diversity of its residents and supporting those who are already here.”
̶ Brianna Evans, PGY3, Categorical Pediatrics
Brianna elaborates, “I remember on my interview day Dr. Reid-Adam described the community of acceptance and celebration of diversity she felt as a resident and now as an Attending and Program Director. She said something that stayed with me that day: she never had to be anything but her most true self, no filters, no pretending. I loved the idea of being at an institution where I would feel supported and encouraged. I had been in environments where my blackness was avoided as a topic or even worse used against me, and here it was presented as a topic of celebration. That interview day I accepted the invitation to just be me and I have been ever since. The Pediatric Residency Program at Mount Sinai has been committed to increasing and maintaining the diversity of its residents and supporting those who are already here. I feel overwhelmingly fortunate to have colleagues who know and understand my experience as a URiM. We truly are a family. In noon conferences or morning reports we often find ourselves bringing up topics that others might be afraid to address but every voice is supported. We all are continuing to learn from each other just as much as we learn from our patients.“