We Are One

Within the Lerner College of Medicine and across the Cleveland Clinic enterprise, caregivers and students are working together in teams to effect intentional change that ensures that everyone, no matter how they appear or how they define themselves, feels that they belong and that they can excel.

“We’re not only working on building equality in how we approach educating our medical students and in how we treat patients and people in our communities, but we’re also working toward equity and, ideally, removing barriers that stand in the way of inclusion,” says Monica Yepes-Rios, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Students.

Ten groups are focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts ranging from anti-racism and allyship to community outreach and mentoring. Below is a summary of each group’s goals and current progress as well as a list of its members.

Build a Culture of Antiracism Action Group

Members:

Johanna Goldfarb, MD, Faculty Lead
Jesse Fajnzylber (‘25)
Timothy Gilligan, MD
Zeyd Khan, MD
Rachel Schafer (‘25)
Philip Ahern, DPhil
Rashimi Unwala, MD
Leila Bushweller (’26)
August Culbert (’26)
Princess Ekpo (’26)

The broad mission of this action group is to address the culture at CCLCM for both faculty and students. The first step was to create a curriculum for the various groups that interact with students to ensure that messages are consistent with a culture of antiracism. The next step is to educate both students and faculty on how to develop allyship skills.

• CCLCM students Rachel and Jesse had already organized a book group to study racism in medicine. The book group was made part of this action group, with plans to continue and use the format to educate incoming medical students. The first meeting was July 8 as part of new student orientation.
• Based on student feedback, the action group developed a presentation on antiracism for CCLCM physician advisors. Created by the students and members of the action group, the presentation included an educational seminar on the history of racism in medicine, definitions of institutional and systemic racism, and information about how health in Cleveland is affected by racism, implicit bias and microaggressions. The second half of the presentation was spent learning skills to use when a student reports an episode of microaggression, to ensure that the student is heard and can trust the culture to support them.
• Dr. Goldfarb gave a 20-minute talk to the entering first-year students at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine University and College programs, outlining the issues of racism in medicine and the role of students and physicians in addressing these issues.

Research/Education Action Group

Members:

Linda Graham, MD, Faculty Lead
Helena Baffoe-Bonnie (‘25)
Peter Imrey, PhD
Alexandra (Sasha) White (‘23)
Elizabeth Stanley (’25)

The Research Education Action Group is working to enhance the CCLCM learning environment and to implement curricular changes to promote education on research that addresses diversity and healthcare disparities.

The two main goals for the Research Curriculum/Education Action Group are to 1) enhance the learning environment and 2) add healthcare disparities and diversity to the research curriculum.

To enhance the learning environment, the group aims to:

• increase the diversity of Advanced Research in Medicine (ARM) speakers by providing a list of potential speakers to ARM leaders and annually reviewing the diversity of ARM speakers to determine if diversity is increasing
• increase the number of mentors who are underrepresented minorities in medicine (URiM) by inviting URiM faculty to become research mentors
• reduce unconscious bias and microaggressions by research faculty by engaging research faculty in training

To add healthcare disparities and diversity to the research curriculum, the group has:

• developed and posted a recommended reading list related to minorities in research as well as research on race and healthcare disparities
• included the topic of research on healthcare disparities in epidemiology seminars, clinical research journal club and ARM 3
• made available an annotated list of Cleveland Clinic and Case faculty conducting diversity-related research, research in healthcare disparities and related community outreach, with the goal of increasing these types of research opportunities to help students connect with research mentors
• made plans for a special fall session focused on the meaning and nature of race and of health and healthcare disparities between racial groups

Microaggression and Allyship, Students, Faculty, Staff Action Group

Members:

Monica Yepes-Rios, MD, Faculty Co-Lead
Jazmine Sutton, MD, Faculty Co-Lead
Katherine Burke, MFA
Silvia Cardenas, MD
Nicole Fennell, MBA
Timothy Gilligan, MD
Linda Graham, MD
David Harris, MD
Rachel King, JD
Jeremy Lipman, MD
Mihika Thapliyal (‘25)
Jessica Tomazic, MD
Carlos Trombetta, MD, MEd
Allison Tura, MA
Kia-Rai Prewitt, PhD
Madeleine Blazel (’25)

This group is focusing on four goals, with some progress already having been made:

• Increase recognition of microaggressions
• Create a curriculum on microaggressions/allyship to be implemented throughout the Cleveland Clinic enterprise
• Add a professional development milestone in the students’ portfolio that reads “recognize and reflect upon implicit biases and microaggressions of self and others”
• Train undergraduate and graduate medical education faculty and staff to be good allies and assess their learning afterward

Service Learning/Community Outreach Action Group

Members:

Eric Yudelevich, MD, Faculty Lead
Kanyo Emese (‘23)
Cong (Ava) Fan (‘25)
Julia Joo (‘25)
Brenda Lowe
Yael Mauer, MD
Pratibha Rao, MD
Saswat Sahoo (‘25)
Sherelle Tucker, MBA
Monica Yepes-Rios, MD

This group aims to help promote and create outreach opportunities for CCLCM students to meaningfully engage with the local community, particularly in underserved areas of Cleveland. Recent efforts include establishing a database of community volunteering opportunities for CCLCM students and organizing COVID-19 vaccine education sessions around the Fairfax neighborhood.

The group’s progress includes:

• Enhancing curricular student engagement, particularly in the community and working within interprofessional teams
• Providing opportunity access to increase curricular and extracurricular activities, and pipeline/tutoring activities
• Establishing community outreach opportunities

Disability Action Committee

Members:

Marvin Natowicz, MD, Faculty Lead
Samantha Stallkamp (’24)
Allie Tura, MA, Administrative Lead
Emily Abramczyk (‘24)
Frederick Allen (‘22)
Madeleine Blazel (’25)
Michael Haupt (’22)
Carrie Johnson (‘23)
Stephanie Larson, PhD
Monica Nair (’25)
Briana Prager (‘18)
Raoul Wadhwa (’22)

This interprofessional group comprises medical students, bioethics fellows, law students and physicians at Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University, all of whom are dedicated to improving healthcare for patients, educating colleagues on disability issues and helping aspiring healthcare professionals with disabilities reach their goals. Many of these goals are unique among medical schools:

• Evaluate the curriculum, identify gaps and make suggested changes
• Form a relationship with the disability community in the Greater Cleveland area
• Evaluate current technical standards for entry into and continuation in medical school
• Critically consider the current and past experiences of those with disabilities in this program
• Gather interprofessional experiences of those with disabilities in the healthcare field
• Research accessibility and inclusion across medical schools

Admissions and Recruitment Action Group

Members:

Christine Warren, MD, MS (’09), Faculty Lead
Allie Tura, MA, Administrative Lead
Samuel Irefin, MD
Saloni Lad (’24)
Shayla Lester, MD
Diana Lopez (‘23)
Shreya Louis (‘22)
Gwen Lynch, MD
Kathryn Martinez, PhD
Liz Myers, MEd
Joan Nambuba (‘22)
Jazmine Sutton, MD
Julie Tebo, PhD
Rashmi Unwala, MD
Alexandra (Sasha) White (‘23)

The Admissions and Recruitment group has five overall goals and is making tremendous progress on each:

Make the diversity and inclusion mission and initiatives at CCLCM transparent to applicants and interviewees, specifically:

• Initiated quicker navigation to the diversity and inclusion portion of the CCLCM website, and included links on the homepage and applicant portal to Cleveland Clinic diversity and inclusion resources
• Added link to “CCLCM Stands Against Structural Racism” statement to CCLCM website homepage
• Added a secondary essay regarding diversity and inclusion to medical school application
• Added diversity and inclusion introductory video, featuring Monica Yepes-Rios, MD, and Jazmine Sutton, MD, to applicant portal

Increase the number of URiM applicants to CCLCM, specifically:

• Reach out to qualified URiM applicants via Med-Mar, the AAMC Medical Minority Applicant Registry
• Established scholarships to increase representation of students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine. The students participate in a four-week elective clinical rotation to learn firsthand what it is like to be a resident at Cleveland Clinic and to learn about our culture.

Increase the number of URiM applicants who are invited for a CCLCM interview and who receive offers, specifically:

• To recruit a diverse group of students that will thrive at CCLCM, we have to be intentional and raise awareness of where bias exists and limit its impact on our admissions process. Prior to screening applications and interviewing, faculty and students are required to annually review and attest to several unconscious bias training materials, such as completing implicit bias association tests and reviewing webinars about how to mitigate unconscious bias in health professions and mitigate implicit racial bias in medical school admissions. At our annual half-day Admissions Retreat in September, we provide additional diversity, equity and inclusion training with help from the Cleveland Clinic Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
• Annually revise the screening form, behavior questions and interview evaluation form. We also added a new secondary essay question to the 2020 application that focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, and revised the wording in 2021 to enhance the applicant’s understanding of our commitment to antiracism and diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Review which parts of the application should be viewable to faculty and student interviewers as well as admissions committee
• Review how discussions regarding applicants’ lived experiences, family and personal challenges disclosed in essays/interviews may bias admissions committee members

Increase the number of URiM students who matriculate to CCLCM, specifically:

• Further highlight CCLCM diversity and inclusion initiatives on Interview Day and during Second Look
• Encourage current URiM students to attend virtual student panel/lunch during interview days
• Have current student and faculty reach out to URiM applicants who interview at CCLCM
• Initiate more direct one-on-one URiM faculty outreach to URiM applicants after offer

Increase the following support systems for URiM students who matriculate, specifically:

• URiM Student Buddy System
• Shared Case University Program/College Program affinity groups
• Student National Medical Association and Latino Medical Student Association (SNMA/LMSA) URiM mentor-mentee match program
• Microaggression and allyship training for Physician Advisors and Medical Student Promotion and Review Committee members

Mentoring Action Group

Members:

Monica Yepes-Rios, MD, Faculty Co-lead
Angelique Redus-McCoy, MD, Faculty Co-lead
Brenda Lowe, Administrative Lead
Katherine Jones, DO
Navkiranjot Kaur (‘22)
Ignacio Mata, MD
Jonathan Smith, PhD
Jazmine Sutton, MD
Julie Tebo, PhD
Mina Huerta
Karrington Seals
Dave Gugliotti, MD
James Young, MD
Ruth Bell, DO
Malcolm Chelliah, MD
Cassandra Garraud, DO
Martina Hale (’26)
Abigail Snyder (’25)
Surabhi Tewari (’23)
Claudia Walker (’26)

The Mentoring Action Group is laser-focused on increasing the mentor match for medical students and medical education trainees (residents and fellows). Thus far, the group has:

• established an SNMA/LMSA mentor/mentee match program with Cleveland Clinic and its affiliate hospital physicians
• aligned with the Cleveland Clinic House Staff Association (representative body of Cleveland Clinic residents/fellows) to provide opportunities for our medical students to “see” physicians who are like them and envision their career progression

Curriculum Review Clinical Cases Action Group

Members:

Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, Faculty Co-Lead
Monica Yepes-Rios, MD, Faculty Co-Lead
Brenda Lowe, Administrative Lead
Moises Auron, MD
Mariel Manlapaz, MD
Yaul Mauer
John Peterson, Ph.D
Matthew Schulgit (’26)
Stephanie Njemanze (’23)
Ryan Zhang (‘22)

The Curriculum Review Clinical Cases Action Group is focusing on using a checklist to assess bias in medical education. The initiative has been welcomed by various committees, and a faculty development seminar on bias in medical education was held in September.

Pending approval by the Cleveland Clinic Institutional Review Board, the group plans to lead a multi-institution research project using the checklist.

Curriculum Review LBGTQ Action Group

Members:

Jason Lambrese, MD, Lead Faculty Member
Robert Dean, MD
Brady Greene (‘25)
Maeve Hopkins, MD
Saloni Lad (‘24)
Brenda Lowe
Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS
Henry Ng, MD
William Patterson (‘25)
Gustavo Roversi (‘24)
Jeffrey Shu (’26)

The Curriculum Review LBGTQ Action Group has been meeting every other week for the past academic year and has made the following progress toward the goal of enhancing the curriculum by adding LGBTQ+ content to first- and second-year courses:

• Reviewed the first- and second-year Basic Science Education (BSE) courses (seminars, PBL, APM, clinical skills, physical diagnosis) to note areas where LGBTQ+ content can possibly be included. The group relies upon relevant, evidenced-based literature to support their findings and then maps it onto the AAMC Competencies for Improving Health for LGBT People. When content can be added, it generally means including one slide to a pre-existing seminar or adding one additional learning objective to a PBL case.
• Meeting with course directors to review curriculum suggestions, which, thus far, have been productive and positive. The group members offer to help seminar leaders by providing the relevant literature and creating content for their review.
• Prepared a brief primer on sex and gender terminology to help standardize how faculty, including seminar leaders, use language. Although “sex” and “gender” are often used interchangeably, they have different meanings, which can be relevant in the context of medicine. The primer highlights the difference between sexual orientation, attraction and behaviors, as many health conditions are related to specific sexual behaviors (rather than to one sexual orientation group), so it is important to use language that respects this distinction.

Faculty Recruitment, Retention and Teaching Action Group

Members:

Jennifer Kambies, MBA, CPRP, Faculty Co-Lead
Kathryn Martinez, PhD, Faculty Co-Lead
Brenda Lowe, Administrative Lead
Cynthia Kubu, PhD
Mahwish Ahmad, MD
Christie Campla (‘24)
Jesse Fajnzylber (‘25)
Matthew Goldman, MD
Bud Isaacson, MD
Brandi Marsh, MD
Rachel Schafer (‘25)
Scott Simmons
Alok Vij, MD
Meghana Iyer (’26)
Temi Oladeji (’26)

The Faculty Recruitment, Retention and Teaching Action group has focused on four goals over the past eight months:

• The first goal builds on previous efforts to increase the number of women and minorities in upper academic faculty ranks. Regular virtual workshops are held to help demystify the promotion process and provide a forum for faculty to ask questions. Since this initiative began, the number of women and minorities applying for promotion has increased, and opportunities to increase these numbers still exist.
• The second goal is to increase the visibility of minority faculty. A working group was established to develop a series of profiles that highlights diverse faculty to be shared via a variety of email listservs and highlighted in social media.
• The third goal is to encourage house and physician staff to engage with CCLCM students. The group has partnered with the Cleveland Clinic GME department to introduce CCLCM to house staff, particularly those who are underrepresented in medicine. More than two dozen house staff responded with interest. A similar introductory session will be held for new physician staff.
• The fourth goal is to ensure that minority students and faculty are adequately represented on all of the CCLCM internal and external webpages. This group conducted a review of the webpages, which highlighted an opportunity to increase representation. The group is also developing diversity and inclusivity content to include on the CCLCM websites as well as the Cleveland Clinic Physician Career Site and any related websites.

If interested in joining one of these action groups, please email CCLCMDI@ccf.org. We look forward to sharing your energy as we continue to advance this important work.