Diversity, Inclusion and Equity

Overview

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center recognizes the need for diversity and inclusion at all levels of our department. To continue providing excellence in clinical care, education and research, we believe it is essential that our faculty, fellows and residents represent a range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives that reflect the diversity of the patients we serve.

Mission

To advance a department that promotes a culture of professionalism among faculty, staff, and trainees that is respectful of our diversity, and better enable faculty, resident staff, and nursing staff to deliver equitable patient care regardless of race, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation or disability.

Goals

To develop programs that:

  • Promote the delivery of excellent healthcare regardless of race/ethnicity/language or gender identity;
  • Recruit and retain diverse faculty/trainees/staff; and
  • Track diversity metrics and identify healthcare disparities in obstetrics and gynecology.

Leadership

 garrison 

Etoi Garrison, MD, PhD
Vice Chair, Diversity & Inclusion

 lister

Rolanda Lister, MD
Chair, Diversity Committee

  • Diversity Committee

    Committee Goal: Foster professionalism among faculty, staff, and trainees that is respectful of our diversity. Enable our providers to deliver excellent care regardless of race, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, or disability

    Committee Mission Statement: The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Diversity and Inclusion Committee will support the Chair and Department leadership in their effort to deliver excellent patient care by promoting a culture of professionalism that supports diversity, inclusion, and health equity among faculty, residents, nursing, and ancillary staff. We will develop programing designed to:

    • Track diversity metrics and identify healthcare disparities in obstetrics and gynecology
    •  Identify and develop practices to promote the delivery of excellent healthcare regardless of              race/ethnicity/language or gender identity
    • Recruit and retain diverse faculty/trainees/staff

    Committee Members
    Regina Barukh, NP
    Amy Cadoret, MHA, MSN, NEA-BC, AMB-BC
    Melissa Davis, CNM
    Sarah Hmaidan - PGY-3
    Linda Johnson, MSN, CNM
    Soha Patel, MD
    Charlie Rush, MD
    Camille Robinson - PGY-4
    Ali Sevilla de Cocco, MSN, CNM
    Margaret Taylor, MSN, CNM
    Richard Thigpen, MD
    Ivana Thompson MD
    Richard Thigpen, MD

  • Grand Rounds

    October 4, 2019 - Reproductive Justice: The Start of a Conversation - Ivana Thompson, MD MSCI

    July 31, 2020 - George Floyd, COVID-19 disparities, and Systemic Racism Town Hall - Andre Churchwell, MD, and the Office of Diversity

    August 2, 2020 - Race, Health Equity and Maternal Mortality - Rolanda Lister, MD

    March 2021 - Healthcare and Systemic Racism - Jonathon Metzel, PH.D.

    Conferences

    November 1, 2020 - Maternal Health Disparities: Racial Bias and How to Form Institutional-Community Partnerships - Rolanda Lister, MD - High Risk Obstetrics Seminar hosted by VUMC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

    April 2021 - Diversity MM&I              

    May 2021 - Diversity MM&I

    August 6, 2021 - White Coats, Black Patients, Cesarean Scar and Butterflies - Professor Alice Randall

    November 10, 2021 - Faculty Development - Microaggressions - Dr.  Arie Nettles, Office of Inclusion and Health Equity

  • State of TN Maternal Mortality Grant Award (1/2021 - 9/2021) - Maternal Mortality Prevention and Unconscious Bias Pilot Project- $20,000 grant awarded to Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Office of Inclusion and Health Equity at VUMC by the State of TN. This pilot project will identify and train faculty at four middle TN hospitals to conduct local unconscious bias and maternal mortality/Hypertensive disorders training.
    Principal Investigator - Etoi Garrison, MD            
    Co- Investigators - Arie Nettles, MD and Dr. Amita Bey - Office of Inclusion and Health Equity

    Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE) (9/2020 - 4/2021) – Gestational diabetes telehealth education project with Community Doula.
    Principal Investigator - Rolanda Lister, MD   
    Co- Investigator- Homeland Heart Nashville Birth and Wellness Collective

    Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care Grant- Educational Podcasts
    Grant funds are used to develop podcasts addressing maternal health disparities across Tennessee. The plan is to address all quality projects with a health equity lens.
    Rolanda Lister, MD - TIPQC Health Equity Officer

    Grant Application (Community Engaged Research Center Pilot Funding) October 2020
    Motivational interviewing for community doulas to support minority women with gestational diabetes post-partum.
    Principal Investigators: Rolanda Lister, MD (MFM), Stephanie Devane,CNM, PhD, and Kristen Mejia-Greene (doula)