Inclusive Excellence and Equity | Graduate Medical Education | UC Davis School of Medicine

Creating a community and resource for residents and fellow physicians is our goal in helping resident and fellow physicians thrive at UC Davis Health. Below includes a list of residents and fellow physicians' community groups current residents and fellows can participate in ranging from journal club, networking, mentorship, departmental sponsored clubs, and more. If you would like to establish a new group or learn how to get involved, reach out to Office of Student and Resident Diversity at hs-osrd@ucdavis.edu or Eva Lee at eclee@ucdavis.edu.

Black Excellence Group (BRO)

Leads: Tanya Thomas M.D., Miquell Miller M.D., and Elise Fannon M.D.

Meets quarterly to support Black / African American residents and fellow physicians. Consists of a listserv of Black/African American identified residents/fellows and faculty. Join the BRO listserv by emailing BlackExcellence@groups.ucdavis.edu. 

Surgery Socially Responsible Journal Club

Leads: Rachel Ingrid Ekaireb M.D., Alyssa Bellini M.D., Priya Suri M.D., and Leah Timbang M.D.

Socially Responsible Surgery (SRS) has the goal of improving surgical equity and patient outcomes. First conceived at Boston University and now expanding to UC Davis Health, SRS creates research and educational initiatives tailored to our unique community. UC Davis Medical Center treats a diverse group of patients, both rural and urban from Northern California and surrounding states. Admission to a surgical service is often the first point of care for many under- or uninsured patients in this large region. This offers exciting opportunities for residents and attendings to devise and implement cutting edge research and educational studies, while advocating for surgical equity in Northern California. To learn more, visit Socially Responsible Surgery.

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Interdepartmental Club (JEDI Club)

Meets quarterly to support physicians dedicated to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in healthcare and medicine.

Leads:
Emergency Medicine, Kara Toles
Internal Medicine, Olivia Campa
Psychiatry, Poh Choo How
Surgery, Elise Fannon

Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement (DICE) – Internal Medicine Department

Founded in 2015, DICE is exceptionally engaged and active. Multiple layers of mentorship include: peer mentor program, faculty mentor, and URM-focused mentorship events. DICE meets monthly. To learn more, visit DICE.

Resident Medical Staff Committee

The Resident Medical Staff Committee (RMSC) is comprised of representatives from every residency and fellowship training program at UC Davis. They meet once a month where representatives voice opinions on vital issues that impact patient care and the housestaff experience. To learn more visit Resident Medical Staff Committee.

Women in Medicine and Health Sciences

Directors: Bryn Mumma, M.D., M.A.S. and Cat Cansino, M.D., M.P.H.

Focuses on the recruitment and retention of women in medicine and health sciences. It aims to enhance the culture for women faculty, clinicians and researchers, and increase opportunities for mentoring, leadership and peer collaboration. Visit Women in Health Sciences to learn, watch past webinars, and obtain information of upcoming events.

To establish your own resident/fellow interest group, connect with Eva Lee, Resident Diversity and Recruitment Coordinator at eclee@ucdavis.edu on how to get started.

The Office of Student and Resident Diversity is committed to increasing the diversity of our trainees (residents and fellows) to more closely reflect the population of patients that we serve. In collaboration with the Office of Graduate Medical Education, we provide special services to UC Davis residency and fellowship programs to support their efforts.

These services include:

• Funding for diversity-focused recruitment events and programs
• Networking opportunities with current medical students from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine
• Connecting residents and fellows to faculty diversity programs to raise awareness about careers in academic medicine
• Funding for current trainees to present diversity-related scholarly work at academic conferences

Trainees can submit a form Funding Request: Office of Student and Resident Diversity.

For more, visit UC Davis GME Programs.

In addition to recruiting a diverse population of trainees (residents and fellows), the Office of Student and Resident Diversity (OSRD) works to support the needs of current trainees.

OSRD can offer financial and staff support to diversity-focused, trainee-run programs and events. Topics covered in these events may include reducing health disparities, promoting trainee wellness, and support for trainees' families. For many in the academic and community health fields, residency and fellowship are critical times to conduct and present research. OSRD can also offer travel funding support to trainees who have been accepted to present on diversity-related research topics at local, regional or national conferences.

Residents and trainees can submit a form Funding Request: Office of Student and Resident Diversity.

General Travel Policies:

• OSRD can only fund travel within the United States.
• There is a $500 limit per person, per academic year for these funds. Additional funding may be available if the trainee is participating in diversity recruitment on behalf of the School.
• Specialty-specific conferences will not be funded.
• As staff members of their academic department, trainees are responsible for obtaining time off for travel. OSRD has no authority to excuse trainees from work or clinical duties.

What’s Covered?

• Registration costs, airfare, mileage
  Transportation between event location, lodging, and travel (e.g. between conference and hotel, between hotel and airport)
• Meals up to $62 per day, per person
• Expenses up to one day before and one day after the event

For more information and determine if your travel and events qualify, contact Eva Lee, Resident Diversity and Recruiting Coordinator at eclee@ucdavis.edu.

Diversity in medicine is an area we deeply care about as we recognize the importance of representation in helping vulnerable communities. Which is why we welcome residents’ participation throughout the year in different aspects of recruiting and engagement with the local community and future physicians. Residents have opportunities throughout the year to volunteer to support the next generation of physicians by serving on career panels, provide tips and strategies at networking events, and participate at outreach and recruiting events to share about their experience.

If you are interested in sharing about your academic, career, and personal journey with the future candidates, let us know by submitting an interest application here.

Residents and fellows who experiences instances of bias can anonymously report their concerns in the MedHub system directly to the Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education or to their Program Director. Medhub instructions to anonymous reporting of Resident/Fellow issues (PDF).

Since its establishment in 2012, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has provided renewable, two-year term legal protections and other benefits for recipients from undocumented backgrounds, allowing them the opportunity to pursue higher education in the United States without fear of deportation. DACA was rescinded by the White House on September 5, 2017; the future of DACA is currently being decided in the US court system. In the meantime, UC Davis residency and fellowship programs will continue to consider all eligible applicants, including those with DACA status. Individuals with DACA status have contributed greatly to the education, research, and patient care activities of the University of California and have enriched the diversity of our training programs. The UC Davis Health Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) and the Office of Student and Resident Diversity (OSRD) will continue to support students, residents, and fellows with DACA status in achieving their goal of becoming America Board of Medical Specialties certified physicians.

We are grateful for the leadership of UC President Napolitano and UC Davis Chancellor May in championing the rights of those with DACA status.

For more information, please see the additional resources below:

• UC Davis Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• UC Davis AB540 and Undocumented Student Center
• University of California - Information on Immigration