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The Health Professions HEED Award recognizes U.S. medical, dental, pharmacy, osteopathic, nursing, veterinary, allied health, and other health schools and centers that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
“It is only through a diversity of experiences, backgrounds, and an inclusion of differing perspectives that we can truly flourish as an institution,” said Dr. Marc Nivet, Executive Vice President for Institutional Advancement. “In receiving the award, we validate the emphasis that our leadership continues to place on making UT Southwestern somewhere that all members of the campus community are treated with dignity and respect. It’s critical to our abilities to successfully educate the next generation, achieve scientific success, and deliver quality patient care.”
UT Southwestern’s commitment to improving diversity in medicine spans all facets of the institution including student recruitment and retention, addressing multicultural and women’s health issues in the curriculum, and leading community health outreach. On campus, UT Southwestern offers employee business resource groups for various populations including women and allies, Asian/Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic/Latino, veteran, and LGBTQ faculty and staff.
One of UT Southwestern’s top initiatives is the President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion, chaired by Daniel K. Podolsky, M.D., president of UTSW. The council, composed of senior leadership and executives, supports strategies that foster a diverse and inclusive institutional culture for staff, faculty, and students. UT Southwestern’s Offices of Student Diversity & Inclusion and Faculty Diversity & Development are responsible for recruiting and retaining top students and faculty to campus, while also implementing strategies to promote the growth and presence of women and underrepresented minorities. The Office of Institutional Equity & Access advances a diverse, equitable, and supportive campus culture for staff and visitors.
Supporting these efforts is UTSW’s long-standing commitment to invest in the next generation of physicians and scientists through internship programs that provide students hands-on experience. Since 1993, UT Southwestern has been a collaborating partner in the Dr. Emmett J. Conrad Leadership Program, an internship program sponsored by state Sen. Royce West and
named in honor of the renowned African American physician and educational advocate from Dallas. The program helps UT Southwestern hire historically underrepresented minority college students each summer to explore careers in the sciences and health professions.
To reach the next generation of health care professionals, UT Southwestern offers a five-week Health Professions Recruitment and Exposure Program (HPREP), which introduces DFW-area high school minority students to careers in science and medicine. Recently, HPREP and another UT Southwestern program, Science Teacher Access to Resources at Southwestern (STARS), were recognized by INSIGHT Into Diversity with 2020 Inspiring Programs in STEM Awards. STARS focuses on improving science education in North Texas.
INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine will feature UT Southwestern in its December 2020 issue alongside other Health Professions HEED Award institutions that include The Ohio State University College of Medicine, the Duke University School of Nursing, the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine, and the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.
Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 23 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,500 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 105,000 hospitalized patients, nearly 370,000 emergency room cases, and oversee approximately 3 million outpatient visits a year.
