InclusiveVTCSOM Task Force

• Email the Task Force with questions or comments 
• Shared Drive - Phase 1 curriculum
• Shared Drive - Phase 2 curriculum
• Shared Drive - Student Support 
• Shared Drive - Community Engagement
• Shared Drive - Admissions
• Shared Drive - Faculty and Staff Recruitment, Development, and Retention
• Shared Drive - Learning and Working Environment
• Shared Drive - Facilitators
• Facilitators: submit weekly update

Task Force leaders and members will take care to engage members of the VTCSOM, Virginia Tech, Carilion Clinic and Roanoke communities as they draft a detailed report that includes deliberate, measurable action steps that advance the school’s equity and inclusion goals. The report will be submitted to Dean Learman by December, 2020. 

Learn more about the Task Force Structure

Learn more about Working Groups

Through the seven Working Groups, Task Force members will gather data, inventory the school’s current practices related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and develop recommendations that advance the school’s movement toward inclusive excellence.

Task Force and Working Group members will take care to engage members of the VTCSOM, Virginia Tech, Carilion Clinic and Roanoke communities as they draft a detailed report that includes deliberate, measurable action steps that advance the school’s equity and inclusion goals. The report will be submitted to Dean Learman by December, 2020.

Students are the lifeblood of VTCSOM, so their participation in and contributions to the Task Force is crucial. Student members of the Task Force and Working Groups were selected based on applications they submitted, and reviewed by class leadership in consultation with the school’s Chief Diversity Officer. About 40 VTCSOM students will play a role in task force activities, with four student representatives on the task force steering committee; one student co-leader for each Working Group (seven students); and at least four students appointed to each Working Group (at least 28 students).

Students who expressed interest in or were nominated to serve on the task force were required to submit brief application that required them to explain their interest. Applications were reviewed by their student leaders in collaboration with the school’s chief diversity officer. Students appointed by the dean to serve on the task force and working groups effectively articulated their experiences with diversity and inclusion initiatives, the group process, and inclusive discussions.

The Working Group on the Phase 1 Curriculum will review M1 and M2 curricular materials and experiential learning opportunities to ensure that they address the social determinants of health as well as help equip students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies they will need to provide culturally excellent health care and research. Further, the group will research and recommend learning activities that foster self-awareness of how students view others and how those views may affect health care delivery and the patient experience. 

The group’s focus will include (but not be limited to): self-awareness; unconscious/implicit bias; social determinants of health; health equity; pedagogical styles; microaggressions; and imposter syndrome.

The Working Group on the Phase 2 Curriculum will review M3 and M4 curricular materials and experiential learning opportunities to ensure that they address the social determinants of health as well as help equip students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies they will need to provide culturally excellent health care and research. Further, the group will research and recommend interventions that target, and hopefully, minimize implicit bias within and toward health care providers. 

The group’s focus will include (but not be limited to): unconscious/implicit bias; microaggressions; social determinants of health; and bias in performance evaluations.

The Working Group on Student Support will examine the programs and services implemented across a variety of VTCSOM and Virginia Tech departments to ensure that they foster the individual and professional growth, development, and wellness of medical students, specifically those underrepresented in medicine. 

The group’s focus will include (but not be limited to): academic support and remediation; physical and mental wellness; individual and group mentoring; sense of belonging; and learning accommodations.

The Working Group on Community Engagement will focus on efforts to collaborate with organizations to expand the school’s reach and strengthen its impact in diverse groups in Roanoke and surrounding communities. 

The group’s focus will include (but not be limited to): K-12 outreach and engagement; service learning; Roanoke sense of community; and partnerships with community-based organizations.

The Working Group on Admissions will examine the school’s diversity outreach, recruitment, and admissions policies and practices and consider how they attract, retain and graduate medical students who can practice culturally responsive and equity-minded health care. 

The group’s focus will include (but not be limited to): pipeline programs; underrepresented minority student recruitment; staff diversity; Medical School Admission Committee diversity; yield programs for underrepresented minority students; scholarships; unconscious/implicit bias; admission criteria; and stereotype threat.

The Working Group on Faculty and Staff Recruitment, Development, and Retention will concentrate on the school’s efforts to recruit diverse faculty, provide ongoing diversity training for instructional and clinical faculty, and ensure that all students are exposed to faculty and physicians from diverse communities. 

The group’s focus will include (but not be limited to): recruitment; retention; mentoring; sense of belonging; professional development; cultural competence; unconscious/implicit bias; microaggressions; and managing difficult discussions.

The Working Group on the Learning and Working Environment will focus on the school’s efforts to create and sustain a diverse, inclusive, and bias-free experience for everyone in the VTCSOM community, including all learners, educators, and staff, with special attention to the clinical learning environment. 

The group’s focus will include (but not be limited to): safe and streamlined reporting of bias, discrimination and mistreatment; management of student complaints, including feedback on the outcome; management of comments by patients, including active bystander training; and introducing medical students/student doctors by name, including tools for pronunciation.

Confirmation bias in the utilization of others' opinion strength (FBRI)