University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Medicine

UMKC’s School of Medicine directs individuals to “Diversity Topic Trainings for students, trainees, faculty, and staff” in addition to a list of resources.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine (UMKC SOM) has an anti-racism and cultural bias program that is part of the SOM's formal curriculum. All medical students are required to participate in the program prior to beginning clinical clerkships. During the 2020-21 academic year, Professor Mikah Thompson taught the first module titled "Cultural Self-Awareness/Cultural Sensibility." Remaining modules include "Implicit Bias and Medicine, Privilege and White Fragility, The Social Construction of Race, Intersectionality, Microaggressions and Medicine, and Capstone." Besides this program, the Office of Graduate Medical Education is collaborating with the Office of DEI to expand the educational trainings about DEI to resident and fellowship trainees.

The School of Medicine Multicultural Affairs made a statement saying, “We have a collaboration to imbed diversity, equity, and inclusion training and education into the Physician Assistant curriculum including training on social identity, identity development, LGBTQIA identity and Safe Space, Diabetes Prevention reflection and debriefs, and a Leadership Advocacy Panel. This curriculum has served as a pilot to imbed Cultural Bias and Anti-Racism Curriculum across the 6 year BA/MD and MD programs and as well as the Anesthesiologist Assistant Program.”

SOM received a $3.2 million federal grant from the United States Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support programs that aid students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The School of Medicine had its 16th Annual Critical Mass Gathering event on October 17-18, 2021 to "support under-represented in medicine pre-medical and medical students as they traverse the continuum of a medical career." Various deans from the Kansas City medical schools participated in this virtual DEI event. Chief Health Equity Officer from Humana Incorporated, J. Nwando Olayiwola, MD, MPH, provided the keynote address.

UMKC SOM's Office of DEI has a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council, which "was established to create a diverse, nondiscriminatory learning and working environment" and "charged with promoting cultural competency, awareness, inclusion, respect and equity through education, training, programming, and advancement." The DEI Council consists of four committees: the Student Recruitment, Retention, Success Committee; Trainee Recruitment, Retention, and Success Committee; Faculty Recruitment, Retention, Success Committee; and Staff Recruitment, Retention, Success Committee. The Council hosts a Diversity Symposium, bringing together all departments across the SOM to "create goals and recognize existing efforts towards more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments and work execution."

The School of Medicine is a member of the Health Sciences Diversity and Inclusion Council (HSDIC) at UMKC. HSDIC's mission is to "lead inter-professional collaboration to provide advocacy and resources for the success of diverse students, faculty, staff, affiliates and partners." It seeks to do so by "[celebrating] diversity; [valuing] and [respecting] differences; actively [engaging] issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion; and [facilitating] relevant education/training on cultural competence and cross-cultural issues needed to work with diverse populations."

SOM has many diversity programs including the School of Medicine Multicultural Affairs (SOMMA), “Expect Respect” Committee, Collaborative Committee for Faculty Success, and the Docent Council.

Each February, the SOM invites a distinguished speaker to deliver the Dr. Reaner and Mr. Henry Shannon Lecture in Minority Health.

For the purpose of ensuring diverse faculty recruitment, the UMKC SOM offers resources on “The Science of Unconscious Bias and What To Do About it in the Search and Recruitment Process.”

The school has a site dedicated to providing resources for faculty “to assess their own cultural competency and to understand related concepts.”

In UMKC SOM's 2018-2020 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report, the school highlighted that it has a Diversity Strategic Plan built on five strategic pillars: 1) provide access and success with regards to recruiting and retaining a diverse school body, 2) create an institutional climate and intergroup relations, 3) offer education and scholarships that encourage a social justice perspective, 4) commit to community partnerships that reduce disparities among historically underrepresented and underserved populations, 5) build an infrastructure with funding and resources available to achieve and sustain DEI efforts.

In April 2020, Dr. Tyler Smith, assistant professor of pediatrics, was appointed in April 2020 as the School of Medicine’s new Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

UMKC SOM gives annual awards for Excellence in Diversity and Health Equity in Medicine in the following categories: (1) student or student organization, and (2) faculty, staff, resident and/or organization/department. The award is given to people who have made consistent contributions in the areas of diversity, inclusion, cultural competency or health equity in one or more of the following areas: "recruiting and/or retaining a diverse student or faculty body", "facilitating an inclusive environment of success for all", "working to promote health equity and the elimination of health disparities", and "strengthening efforts to develop or implement cultural competency strategies that improve healthcare delivery."

The UMKC SOM formed the Multicultural Advisory Community of Students to “create a community of student leaders in each of our affinity organizations in order to provide guidance around diversity initiatives as it pertains to underrepresented in medicine student success, diversity education, engagement, and retention.”

The School of Medicine launched Uniting Numerous Medical Trainees for Equity and Diversity, “a new initiative to support URM residents in all programs across UMKC and CMH to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.”

The School of Medicine hosts Diversity Receptions “during the Fall and Spring semesters to promote diversity and engagement across programs.” The Diversity Receptions are “focused on creating inclusive and welcoming spaces for new students.”

The UMKC SOM Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion released The Collective newsletter regularly. The Spring 2022 Issue features a “Stay Woke Spotlight.”

UMKC’s School of Medicine made an announcement that a new Senior DEI Program Coordinator was recently hired in April of 2023.