Celebration of Diversity Week
Diversity and inclusion are core values at the University of Florida College of Medicine. The Celebration of Diversity Week was designed to honor those values and explore opportunities to work within our community to promote cross-cultural understanding and address health care disparities. 2021 events will take place virtually April 5-10.
Read about how the college commemorated Celebration of Diversity Week 2019
Monday, April 5
Faces of UF Med Diversity Week Photo Project
7 – 11 a.m. | UF Health Shands Hospital Atrium
To showcase the rich diversity that makes us UF Health, we’re asking our faculty, staff and students to pose for individual portraits April 5 beginning at 7 a.m. in the UF Health Shands Hospital Atrium. Photos will be taken by emergency medicine physician and former photojournalist Giuliano De Portu, M.D., assistant dean for diversity and health equity at the UF College of Medicine.
Follow @UFMedicine on Instagram and the hashtag #FacesofUFMed or #UFMedDiversity to view portraits of the many people who make us an institution that values inclusion and diversity.
Race Card Wall Project
Ongoing | Harrell Medical Education Building/Online
The UF Health Science Center Libraries diversity, equity and inclusion team is hosting the Race Card Wall Project for the College of Medicine’s Celebration of Diversity Week in the Harrell Medical Education Building atrium. Participants are also welcome to submit an entry virtually.
The Dean’s Grand Rounds
Noon – 1 p.m. | Register to attend via Zoom
Join us for the Dean’s Grand Rounds, which will feature a presentation by David A. Acosta, M.D., who provides strategic vision and leadership for diversity and inclusion activities across the medical education community and leads the Diversity Policy and Programs unit as chief diversity and inclusion officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges. In his talk, titled “Emerging as Equity-Minded Academic Health Centers: The Third Dimension to Achieve Excellence,” Dr. Acosta will examine and reflect on the institutional landscape and the lived experiences of learners, faculty, staff within the learning/workplace environments and the community; describe the practice of conscious inclusion, its demonstrated benefits and its intimate connection to diversity and excellence; and explore the next generation of diversity and inclusion work – the practice of equity-mindedness and its implications, and how academic health centers can advance equity through inclusion excellence and diversity.
Tuesday, April 6
First-Generation Medical Student Panel
Noon – 1:30 p.m. | Register to attend via Zoom
First-generation medical students Natalie Applebaum, Akeem Bartley, Taylor Gianangelo, Randall Proctor, Pablo Santana and Joey Whelihan will share their journeys, insights and experiences in a panel discussion jointly hosted by UF Pre-Health Advising and the UF College of Medicine Office of Admissions.
Wednesday, April 7
Honoring LGBTQIA+ Health Stories Panel
Noon – 1 p.m. | Join via Zoom
The UF Health Science Center Libraries will host a panel discussion in collaboration with the College of Medicine for Celebration of Diversity Week. The purpose of the panel, titled “Honoring LGBTQIA+ Health Stories,” is to educate future health providers on the health needs of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as for panelists to share their experiences as LGBTQIA+ health care providers. The panel will include Juan Hincapie-Castillo, Pharm.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the UF College of Pharmacy; Oliver Grundmann, PhD., F.C.P, clinical associate professor in the UF College of Pharmacy and UF College of Nursing; Ann Grooms, M.D., assistant professor in the department of community health and family medicine; and Corey Richardson, DHSc., M.B.A., UF College of Medicine alum and CEO/clinical director of Integrated Care of Greater Hickory.
Thursday, April 8
ICHP-Pediatrics Research Day: “COVID-19 and Racism: Our Children Are Watching”
8 – 9 a.m. | Register to attend via Zoom
ICHP-Pediatrics Research Day, sponsored jointly by UF’s Institute for Child Health Policy and the Department of Pediatrics, presents a keynote address by noted pediatrician and disparities researcher Tina Cheng, M.D., M.P.H., chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, chief medical officer at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation.
Before moving to Cincinnati in 2021, Dr. Cheng was Given Foundation Professor of Pediatrics and director of the Department of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. She also served as the Pediatrician-in-Chief of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Charlotte Bloomberg Children’s Center, and director of Pediatrics for Johns Hopkins Medicine. For 15 years at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Cheng served as principal investigator of the NIH-funded P20 DC Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities, where she developed award-winning, community-integrated models of care to address the needs of vulnerable families.
Dr. Cheng’s keynote address coincides with the Department of Pediatrics Grand Rounds.
Health & Medicine Graduate Diversity Symposium Keynote Address: “The Power of Courage”
1 – 2 p.m. | Join via Zoom
The UF College of Medicine will host an interdisciplinary virtual research symposium from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. that will include oral and poster presentations from UF graduate students (visit the symposium website for a schedule of presentations and links to each session).
A keynote address about the importance of diversity in research will take place from 1-2 p.m. with Reuben Brigety II, vice chancellor and president of The University of the South and son of Reuben Brigety, one of the first African American graduates of the UF College of Medicine. Brigety, a former dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University and former U.S. ambassador to the African Union, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a master’s degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Cambridge.
He has served as an adjunct senior fellow for African Peace and Security at the Council on Foreign Relations and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of African Affairs. He has also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, where he supervised U.S. refugee programs in Africa. He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a recipient of the Council’s International Affairs Fellowship.
Saturday, April 10
Emerald Ball (INVITE ONLY)
5:45 – 9:30 p.m. | Zoom
The annual Emerald Ball will feature a keynote address by 2005 UF College of Medicine graduate Yolanda Hendley, M.D., MSc., FACC, director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory and director of echocardiography at Partners in Cardiovascular Health in Wilmington, Delaware. After receiving her medical degree from UF, Dr. Hendley was accepted to the Johns Hopkins Osler Medical Training Program to study internal medicine before earning a master’s degree in clinical research from Emory University. While at Emory, she began conducting research on health disparities, specifically looking at the differences in weight perception as a potential cause for an increase in the prevalence of obesity among African Americans. That research sparked a lifelong commitment to achieving health equity for all. Today, the interventional cardiologist speaks virtually with underserved communities in or around Wilmington about cardiovascular health.