The Tulane School of Medicine's (TUSOM) Office of Graduate Medical Education ensures that all residents and fellows receive an accredited educational experience of the highest quality. As part of that responsibility, we firmly believe that equity, diversity, and inclusion in all our residency and fellowship programs improves education, provides tremendous opportunities for community engagement, and creates better-trained physicians.
We are a work in progress. Tulane doctors have been caring for the people of New Orleans and the surrounding areas since 1834. Our complex history is filled with examples when we have proudly served our community, and painful examples of when we have fallen short. We recommit to developing and growing a workforce that reflects the rich diversity of race, of gender, of religious belief, of national origin, of ethnicity, of age, of ability, and of sexual orientation found in the unique community and culture of New Orleans.
We seek to understand and invest resources into recruiting, supporting, and retaining a diverse physician workforce that includes members from groups that have been historically marginalized and underrepresented in medicine. In doing so, we understand the importance of providing a training environment intolerant of discrimination against any individual on the basis of race, gender, religious belief, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. It is our goal that all residents and fellows feel supported and mentored and are provided with equal access to opportunities for professional growth and advancement.
--Approved by the Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) April 28, 2021
Each Tulane residency and fellowship program has developed a Statement of Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion that reflects their educational focus and program values.
The SOM has three working groups each tasked with reviewing the School's EDI efforts through the eyes of residents, students, and faculty. These groups will report on the work of their respective committees with recommendations and suggestions moving ahead.
The EDI council connects people from all departments at the Tulane University School of Medicine to work on equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives. The mission of the EDI Council is to allow members of the SoM community to come together and share ideas, discuss best practices and develop solutions that can help create a more welcoming place for all. The council is one of many initiatives underway at the School of Medicine to improve EDI.
The council includes members nominated by department chairs or leaders from across the School of Medicine, the Tulane National Primate Research Center, and Tulane University Medical Group. Representatives are encouraged to bring whatever EDI initiatives their departments are working on to the council to workshop them. The council meets monthly where various departments make presentations about current initiatives and also ask for input/recommendations from their colleagues.
The EDI Taskforce, consisting of four residents and eight faculty members who were peer nominated to make recommendations to the Graduate Medical Education Committee for how to advance meaningful change in EDI in the GME program at the School of Medicine. The Taskforce is charged with reviewing GME Policies and Procedures, Recruiting Best Practices, Cross-Program Collaboration, Residency Program Curriculum, Medical School Pipeline, and the creation of Diversity and Inclusion Committees.
The Liaison Committee on Racial & Social Justice in Medical Education (RSJME), is a medical student-led committee, was established in response to the School's Call to Action denouncing the murder of George Floyd and this country’s extensive history of racial and social injustice. The Committee’s charge was to address racial and social justice in TUSOM’s medical education. Its primary aim has been to work, under the guidance of the Curriculum Committee, to enhance education in racial and social justice across the curriculum by reviewing curricular content, providing feedback and offering recommendations.
