Diversity efforts evolve at the University of Arizona Health Sciences colleges
Efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion shifted into high gear at the University of Arizona Health Sciences' colleges following the social unrest tied to the May 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Dr. Francisco Moreno, Health Sciences associate vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion, said outrage over the incident and others like it prompted students, staff, trainees and faculty of all races to call for greater commitment to address ways institutional, historic and systemic racism in medicine might exhibit itself on campus.
"We are in a time in which we have all become keenly aware of the fact that racism is real, it exists and it permeates all structures and institutions," Moreno said.
"Fortunately, in the past year, leadership at the Health Sciences and colleges has made a sustained effort to build an infrastructure that will work on addressing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are creating strategies and implementing processes that will allow us to advance all aspects of inclusive excellence."
SWEHSC member Dr. Paloma Beamer co-chairs the Committee on Inclusion and Equity at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.