Who We Are

Led by Vice Dean Ana Núñez, MD, FACP, our team collaborates in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with faculty, staff, and learners across the Medical School, as well as partners from our communities to ensure we are celebrating diversity, encouraging conversations and addressing issues of inequities, bias and discrimination in our clinical programs, recruiting, curriculum, and research.

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DEI Groups & Committees

American Indians in Medicine and Science (AIMS)

Acknowledging the importance of our tribal community partners and our own amazing Native American faculty, the American Indians in Medicine and Science (AIMS) group focuses on gathering Native American faculty members to discuss issues of common interest and provide support as they work on thriving and being responsive to Native American health issues and needs. How do I join? Please email ODEI at [email protected] to be added to our listserv and receive Zoom and other details about upcoming meetings.

BIPoC Scholars Community

To counter a big place, space and the isolation of COVID, ODEI created a new way to connect, network and provide support — the BIPOC Scholars Community. These bimonthly meetings alternate with ‘in real life’ and virtually to maximize connection across our two campuses. The goals of the gathering are to promote relationship development, synergies and address common issues and challenges. How do I join? Please sign up using this form to be added to our listserv and receive Zoom and other details about upcoming meetings.

Department Diversity Officers

The Medical School clinical and basic science departments address DEI-related faculty issues. Diversity Officers oversee departmental committees that engage in 1) establishing DEI charters or councils; 2) contributing to delineating core performance measures that support DEI; 3) serving as education hubs in the department; and 4) generating discipline-specific scholarship about DEI. The Departmental Diversity Officers receive their charge and priority from the Department Head with support from the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and meet on a bi-monthly basis.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee

The Medical School’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee is responsible for fact finding, identifying and assessing best practices, and developing recommendations and outcomes related to diversity, inclusion and equity. Committee membership includes faculty, staff, students and trainees from the central and regional campuses.

LGBTQA+ Faculty Group

The LGBTQA+ Faculty Group was creating for faculty who feel an affinity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, ally, questioning and queer communities in the Medical School. Broad goals for the group include providing opportunities to socialize, community building and networking, sharing information and support and being involved in promoting an environment that accepts, values, supports and is safe for members of the LGBTQA+ communities. How do I join? Please email ODEI at [email protected] to be added to our listserv and receive Zoom and other details about upcoming meetings.

Training & Development

Dean’s Lecture Series

The Medical School Dean’s Lecture Series is a series of presentations offered to faculty, staff, and students in the Medical School community, as a response to critical issues that are emerging during the pandemic, as well as our efforts to address racial injustice and health disparities within our institution.

DEI Definitions

Words have power. Using the correct language is essential to communicate respect and inclusivity, acknowledge the complexity behind different issues, and can help us all understand a specific scenario before moving forward together. This is our list of commonly used words and phrases and how we define them.

Please refer to this page, Defining Our Terms, for more support.

Training Opportunities

The University of Minnesota Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) presents training customized training opportunities for the Medical School community. These workshops are an important part of the Medical School’s efforts to cultivate an environment of diversity, inclusiveness, equal opportunity and respect for the similarities and differences in our community.

More information on training opportunities.