Diversity and Inclusion Course

The modern world, especially the United States, represents a rapidly shifting environment of diverse populations, each with unique medical needs. Recruiting and maintaining a representative body of diverse practitioners to provide harmonious patient care as well as expanding inclusive research efforts to better understand the needs of diverse individuals are both paramount to the growth of medical practice.

The Society of Interventional Radiology’s diversity mission statement describes how “success draws strength not just from the clinical expertise of physicians, but from the diversity of their backgrounds and experiences as human beings in the world.” Diversity will reinforce the ingenuity that forms the bedrock of interventional radiology by recruiting individuals with unique insights and innovative solutions to the demands of changing population health. Unfortunately, the status quo of diversity and inclusion in the specialty lags sorely behind the rest of the nation and consistently ranks below other specialties. Further, the “pipeline of diversity” into the interventional radiology remains leaky due to incompletely addressed barriers blocking underrepresented groups from gaining momentum in the field.

While SIR strives to integrate diversity and inclusion into its core missions, it remains up to us, as individuals, to espouse the ideals of diversity and adopt an inclusive culture that supports the longevity of the specialty and the patients it serves.

Module 1 will give definitions, articles, websites, and references about diversity and inclusion setting  up for future modules which will dive deeper into the topic. Future modules will examine the interaction between sociocultural variables and the work environment. 

Participants will learn frameworks for understanding and working with persons from diverse backgrounds, and examine closely how our own background and biases can impact the capacity to provide respectful, competent, and effective services. This is important for creating and sustaining change that fosters a more creative, inclusive, respectful and productive workforce and workplace.