Diversity, Inclusion & Community Engagement (DICE)
DICE Mission
To better serve the needs of our patients by promoting diversity and inclusion among our colleagues and our community.
What is DICE
DICE is a resident-led committee, with support from key faculty advisors, that is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion within our residency, our department, and across our institution.
Diversity is broadly defined and includes race, age, gender, culture, religion, physical or mental abilities, sexual orientation, and many other characteristics. All our residents are invited and encouraged to participate in DICE! We recognize that each residents' experiences and perspectives enrich our program.
DICE Goals
- Promote diversity and inclusion efforts throughout the residency program
- Inform policies, programs, and practices to better meet the needs our diverse community
- Provide a network of support and mentorship for residents
- Increase the diversity of our residency program
- Support resident wellness
A Few DICE Accomplishments
- Cafecitos- a series of talks for residents on a broad array of topics (e.g. financial planning, wellness strategies, managing mentorship relationships)
- Outreach events for URM medical students (panels, open houses, conferences)
- Second Look Program for prospective applicants
- Hosting residency-wide forums to discuss racism and police brutality
- Contributing to diversity and inclusion topics to incorporate into the residency curriculum- including structural racism, implicit bias, microaggressions, community connections activities, and others
- DICE representation on the Residency Steering Committee
- Started a DEI journal club
Diversity Curriculum
- Click here for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Curriculum information sheet
Our Commitment to Diversity
- UC Davis Health and the Department of Medicine are committed to recruiting, training and supporting physicians from all backgrounds to meet the needs of our communities. Our Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Student and Resident Diversity will further support your passion to improve and transform the health of the patients and communities you will serve.
- The UC Davis School of Medicine has the most diverse student population in California. During your training you will be part of diverse teams and support the next generation of healthcare professionals. Medical students, medical residents, and volunteer faculty physicians make significant contributions to the health of underserved populations in the Sacramento area through their volunteer efforts at several UC Davis School of Medicine community clinics.
- UC Davis Health and Sacramento Primary Care Center are in a medically underserved area (Oak Park), and we are dedicated to serving our community. If you share our dedication, this is a great place to train!
- In January 2016, Sacramento County expanded and now serves 4000 undocumented residents of the county at the Health Center, through our TEACH Clinic. As residents, you will have the opportunity to care for this group of patients who desperately need access to quality primary care.
Diversity and Inclusion Research Opportunities
As a resident, you also have the opportunity to conduct research in our internal medicine faculty-led UC Davis School of Medicine Center for a Diverse Healthcare Workforce (CDHW). The CDHW leads multi-institutional, multi-professional research across the educational continuum and disseminates best practices tailored to educational institutions and community partners on enhancing diversity in the healthcare workforce.
As one of our former DICE leaders, Jorge Salazar (from class of 2021) put it, UC Davis truly gives residents unparalleled exposure to a vast diversity of patients and our residents embrace it.
“The US News and World Report has identified Sacramento, California as one of the most racially and ethnically diverse cities in the country. As of January, Sacramento sits at number three on the list, behind Stockton and Oakland, California. It is quite evident that the diversity of the Sacramento communities is reflected in the patients we care for in our health system at UC Davis. I was recently on service on one of the General Medicine Teams, this time as the senior with a full team including two interns, an acting intern, and two medical students. We recognized how diverse our patient census was in many regards. We cared for:
- a Punjabi-speaking gentleman who had been admitted for complications related to kidney and liver disease,
- a Mandarin-speaking woman with metastatic stage IV lung cancer refractory to medical therapies who was transitioning to end of life,
- a young non-verbal woman who had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury who had a gastrostomy tube and tracheostomy who had been admitted for hypoxia,
- an elderly Russian-speaking man with dementia who was struggling with fluid balance related to heart failure,
- a young male with developmental delay and autism spectrum disorder with problems related to severe constipation,
- and a Japanese-American woman who had sick sinus syndrome.
I cannot say that other places I have lived has demonstrated this magnitude of diversity of the communities and patient population. To have the privilege to provide for these patients is something not to be taken for granted. Providing care for these patients allows the opportunity to recognize and embrace our cultural differences so that we can empower the therapeutic alliance we share with our patients. As our communities continue to transform, we are obliged, as significant constituents of the health system, to push efforts to create a diverse health-care workforce that represents and resembles the diverse patients we see and treat. There can only be growth in that which we are unfamiliar with. I am hopeful we can attain this growth.”
Our Team
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Sahand Ghodrati, M.D.
R3 Resident Co-Chair of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement |
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Ignacio Cortina Petrasic, M.D.
R2 Resident Co-Chair of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement
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Olivia Campa, M.D.
Director Postbaccalaureate Program UC Davis School of Medicine
Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement
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Tonya L. Fancher, M.D., MPH
Associate Dean for Workforce Innovation and Community Engagement
Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement |
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Lisandra Franco, M.D.
Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement
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Alicia Gonzalez-Flores, M.D.
Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement
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Stephany Sanchez, M.D.
Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement |
Contact Us
For more information on our diversity efforts, please e-mail our Faculty or Resident Co-Chairs of Diversity, Inclusion and Communication Engagement.