Diversity and Inclusion

Our Vision for Diversity

The Department of Radiology embraces and welcomes a diverse community of faculty, fellows, residents, staff, and patients. Diversity and Inclusion are important to us. With this in mind, a Committee on Inclusion and Awareness was formed from faculty and trainees to broaden and enhance cultural competence and to encourage and develop interpersonal relationships.

Duke Radiology's Leadership Counsel for the Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Awareness (CDIA):

Left to Right: Imarhia Enogieru, M.D., Laura Heyneman, M.D., Connie Kim, M.D.

CDIA mission statement:

The Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Awareness (CDIA) exists to promote a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming environment.

We believe that an inclusive and equitable environment results in optimal patient care and promotes innovative thinking. We seek to provide an environment for learning and working where differences are valued, where each person feels safe and supported, and where everyone has an opportunity to achieve their academic and professional goals.

Our focus includes:

1. Working with departmental leadership to help recruit, retain, and mentor learners and faculty from groups that have been historically marginalized in medicine to create and maintain a diverse departmental community;
2. Reaching out to surrounding communities and developing programs that help address disparities in imaging access;
3. Promoting awareness of the internalized implicit bias that may be found in all individuals as well as promoting awareness of structural racism that can be found within health care as a whole;
4. Supporting the individuals on the committee and within the department through discussion groups and social events;
5. Attending and organizing social justice events that reflect our values and our priorities regarding human rights and health care.

CDIA statement on Anti-Racism:

The Duke Radiology Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Awareness (CDIA) acknowledges the systemic inequities and injustices that are rooted in racism and are prevalent throughout American society. We recognize that these inequities extend into all aspects of society, including health care. While we realize that just an acknowledgment of systemic racism is not sufficient to dismantle it, we do believe that a public commitment to anti-racism is an important first step.

We vow to take the following individual and collective actions to help begin to address these societal inequities:

• We will actively engage in thoughtful reflection and discussions of how we as individuals and how we as an organization implicitly contribute to and propagate policies and beliefs rooted in racism. We will listen when called into such discussions.
• We commit to working on recognizing our own implicit biases and how those biases affect our relationships with each other and with patients.
• We acknowledge that microaggressions negatively affect a departmental culture and result in undue stress. We also recognize that microaggressions often disproportionately affect our nonwhite colleagues, students, and patients. We commit to learning how to address microaggressions when we witness them, to promote a culture of support and well-being.
• We vow to help address inequities in access to health care through engagement with the surrounding communities, particularly in regards to medical imaging which is the focus of our work.
• We will actively try to recruit individuals who have been historically marginalized within medicine so that our department reflects our surrounding community.
• We recognize that we are imperfect and that we will make mistakes. When those mistakes are brought to our attention, we will listen and learn and try to do better.

We ask to be held accountable for these ideals. Anti-racism is a lifelong commitment and requires diligence and frequent reflection.