How Otolaryngology Programs Are Working to Create a More Diverse Workforce

That ultimately limits opportunities for both patient care and research and widens health disparities across different populations.

“If we don’t do it, we will do the same old things and hear the same old voices,” said David Brown, MD, associate vice president and associate dean for health equity and inclusion and associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.

Michigan’s intent is to take the best care of patients and attract the best in the field for career opportunities. “If we are seen as monolithic, and people feel they are different, they won’t have a sense of belonging and won’t want to be a part of the team,” he said. “Instead, we want to make it so that anyone can be a part of our team.”

Efforts to identify promising candidates for medical school, residencies, fellowships, and medical careers should be intentional. “The medical profession loses out on the richness of what makes us different” if diversity isn’t encouraged, said Carrie L. Francis, MD, SUO’s Diversity Committee chair and associate professor and assistant dean of student affairs in the department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. That includes diversity of culture, the richness of thought, “and everything else related to innovation,” she said.