UCSF has made a commitment to Advancing Health Worldwide. Fulfilling this commitment requires that we tackle and solve today’s most challenging problems in biomedical science and healthcare, for everyone. Diverse teams, including people from different backgrounds and with different life experiences, are better at solving complex problems. UCSF’s success in improving the health of our patients and our communities depends on diversifying our disciplines and professions and creating an equitable workplace. It is time that we engineer our culture so that all may thrive.
Differences Matter is the School of Medicine’s initiative designed to make UCSF a university that is home to people with diverse identities and backgrounds, all of whom are committed to advancing equity, belonging, and anti-oppression in medicine and science.
Join us in this work by volunteering for a focus area work group!
Launching the Next Five Years of Differences Matter
In the next phase of the Differences Matter initiative, the School of Medicine will transform existing structures to sustain the successes of the first five years of the initiative and will implement new areas of focus designed to target high impact areas that have the potential to accelerate the achievement of equity, belonging, and anti-oppression across the medical profession. These include:
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Diversify Medicine by expanding faculty and leadership from historically excluded groups to transform UCSF and the nation’s medical schools to better solve the complex problems that continue to face our increasingly diverse communities.
Co-Directors: -
Innovate Collection and Use of Data for Equity by identifying gaps in and innovating on the collection and use of sociodemographic data and data on social determinants to dismantle systems of oppression in health, healthcare, research, medical education, and workplace culture at UCSF.
Co-Directors:
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Build Anti-racism/Anti-oppression Expertise within UCSF by establishing competencies by role and devising educational strategies for individuals to develop these competencies, using both internal and curated external resources.
Co-Directors: - Optimize the Culture of Equity and Inclusion at UCSF by imbedding anti-racist and anti-oppressive principles in all systems and structures of the School and providing central resources to support the work of control points so that all have the opportunity to thrive and contribute.
The work of Differences Matter is led by the Differences Matter Co-Directors, overseen by our Executive Sponsor, and supported by an Advisory Council.
Executive Sponsor:
Advisory Council Members:
Maye Chrisman, MBA
John Davis, MD
Nancy Duranteau
Michelle Guy, MD
LaMisha Hill, PhD
Maga Jackson-Triche, MD, MSHS
Malcolm John, MD
Kathy Julian, MD
Starr Knight, MD
Christina Mangurian, MD
Tung Nguyen, MD
Ben Rubin, PhD
Diane Sliwka, MD
Subject Matter Experts:
Ron Balassanian, MD
Janet Coffman, PhD
Alison DeDent, MD
Hannah Glass, MD, MAS
Brian Graham, MD
Jazmine Kenny
Nerissa Ko, MD, MAS
Gabriel Ibarra, BS
Yukino Nakamura
Zakir Safdar, MD
Interested in Joining a Focus Area Work Group?
If you are interested in joining us in this work as a Subject Matter Expert, please let us know here so that we can connect you to a focus area group. Please contact Stephanie Belger with any questions.