Diversity & Inclusion
Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Welcome and thanks for your interest in the Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine (APOM) at OHSU! We are committed to creating an environment where diversity stands as a priority and a visible entity among our faculty, staff, and learners. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice are critical parts of our mission. In fact, in 2022, APOM established a Senior Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) physician leadership role to oversee and advance this critical work, and I am thrilled to serve in this capacity.
As APOM’s director of DEI, my goal is to nurture an environment where all individuals are free to be their authentic selves. I want folks in our department to thrive! As one of our departmental tactics, we strive to ensure that APOM recognizes individuals for their uniqueness and talent. We also hope to ensure that our members have their strengths acknowledged and celebrated, adding to a culture of belonging and purpose. We are also making strides in improving our diverse recruitment and retention practices, with required unconscious bias training and continuing education on how to be a good ally.
We have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time, and I cannot wait to see how APOM continues to lead the way regarding DEI efforts. Please explore the rest of this page and learn more about the lovely people and their achievements below. Gracias!
Dr. Tomás A. Lazo, MD
Associate Professor
APOM Diversity Groups
We know that a diverse department has significant benefits and want to capitalize on that as much as possible. As such, the Anti-Racism Task Force was established in 2016, and charged with the continuous implementation and evaluation of the department’s Diversity Action Plan. In 2020, this team pivoted to serve as members of a task force charged with making recommendations to department leadership on how to take steps toward becoming an actively anti-racist community. Since this group has representation from all realms of APOM, it is well-positioned to help with education and communication surrounding DEI in the department.
In addition, in 2022, APOM’s residency program established a Diversity Council focused on mentorship and community-building among department members from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds, toward the goals of recruitment and retention. The Council is led by residents Drs. Dayle Hodge and Christian Aquino, and I am happy to serve as the faculty lead. Not only do we aim to improve our sense of community for diverse physicians and physician learners in our department, we are also active in promoting outreach for minoritized students both locally and nationally. Learn more about this in our outreach section.
-Dr. Tomás A. Lazo, MD
- The Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF) is led by Dr. Tomás Lazo in collaboration with administrators Debi Stabler and Brandon Huddleston. They strive to bring together folks from all corners of APOM to merge the strengths and passions of motivated individuals from all parts of the department’s missions to further the efforts of combating discrimination and racism. This group meets periodically to advance the department’s DEI missions. Examples of this include coordinating access for department members to institutional training such as Unconscious Bias and Bystander Intervention, and amplifying DEI-related news, events, and accomplishments in department publications.
- Historically, APOM developed the APOM Diversity Action Team in 2016 and was charged with the continuous implementation and evaluation of the department’s Diversity Action Plan. In 2020, this team pivoted to serve as members of a task force charged with making recommendations to department leadership on how to take steps toward becoming an actively anti-racist community. In 2022, APOM established the role of senior director of DEI to oversee this critical work.
The Women of Anesthesia are dedicated to collaborating and improving the lives of women and mothers within the group. Not only do they make efforts to improve their professional lives - for example - developing a specific departmental lactation policy and creating call restrictions for pregnant residents/trainees - but they also work to improve their lives outside of their clinical work by coordinating fun social gatherings.
Outreach
Neuroanesthesiologist Dr. Angele Theard and Anesthesiology resident, Dr. Dayle Hodge, used the ASA Mentoring Grant to pair with Building Blocks 2 Success (BB2S), a Portland outreach program whose mission is to “inspire underrepresented youth to enter STEM fields,” to introduce middle and high school students to health care careers through engaging workshops and mentorship.
They recruited OHSU medical students from primarily underrepresented backgrounds to help discuss their journeys to medicine. By demystifying the medical school application process and providing role models, the participants (ranging from 6th to 12th grade) not only began to see medicine as a potential career, but they were also connected to long-term mentors who could provide guidance.
APOM plans to cosponsor these educational workshops on a quarterly basis, providing an opportunity for interested residents to serve as preceptors. The goal is to grow the outreach program by recruiting additional residents and medical students, develop new curricula in partnership with BB2S and local universities, and expand to other Portland-area schools.
Established in 2016, the American Society of Anesthesiologist's (ASA) Doctors Back to School (DBTS) program provides early exposure to careers in medicine for underrepresented middle school students. 2023 marked the return of DBTS to in-person classrooms for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, along with new additions to the program, including interactive stations led with the help of medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty from across the country.
The importance of early exposure to medicine for students from underrepresented communities cannot be overstated, with growing disparities in representation within our field. While efforts are under way to diversify the field at all levels of training, engaging children at a young age opens their eyes to a career they may not otherwise have been exposed to and allows for interactions with physicians who share similar backgrounds. The program sends minority physicians and minority medical students into the community to introduce children to professional role models and show kids of all ages from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups that a career in medicine is attainable for everyone.
APOM has a few faculty members who are on the ASA’s Committee for Professional Diversity, which sponsors this program at our annual meetings. We aim to send volunteers from our department to each DBTS event at the annual ASA conference each fall.
Clinical
Improving Interpreter Services for Limited-English Proficiency Patients: This Quality Improvement Projects aims improve the perioperative experience and outcomes for patients with limited-English proficiency (LEP). The QI team (made up of an anesthesia faculty mentor, anesthesia residents, a medical student, and a quality improvement specialist) has initiated the first phase of the project by investigating whether APOM department members believe there are any current limitations or barriers to providing exceptional care for this patient population as well collecting information regarding anesthesia care provided to this patient population. After completing a department-wide survey, we concluded there are disparities in care that LEP patients experience in the perioperative setting. The next phase of the project will be educating anesthesia providers about tailored communication protocols and best practices, including the use of professional interpreters and culturally sensitive materials, with the goal of improving perioperative outcomes, patient satisfaction, and safety for limited-English proficiency patients receiving anesthesia care.
Education
Before residency interviews, the APOM Education Leadership team hosts a DEI Virtual Open House for applicants to have an opportunity to talk directly with current faculty and residents from diverse backgrounds. Following the virtual interview season and after the rank list is submitted, APOM hosts an in-person Second Look weekend for all interviewed applicants. Applicants who come from underrepresented populations are invited to a dinner the night before to meet and visit with diverse residents currently in the program. These applicants are also provided with an extended hotel stay for the Second Look event to facilitate participation in the dinner.
In 2021, Drs. Leila Zuo and Tomas Lazo created the Anti-Discrimination Round Table lecture series to help improve the education surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. They began with just two lectures per year and had covered a variety of topics, including the diversity/minority tax, identity formation in the workplace, allyship, microaggressions, and more. In 2023, they partnered with another educator, Dr. Michael Benson, and updated this curriculum to include the broader topic of healthcare disparities. They now have four dedicated lecture slots throughout the academic year to address these topics through a rotating curriculum. They look forward to continuing to expand the knowledge shared with their residents and each other as time goes on.
Research
Every year, our department hosts an internal research and scholarship day. This is a low stress and highly supportive environment in which faculty, staff, and trainees can showcase their clinical, basic science, education, and/or quality improvement research and scholarly projects. Please feel free to peruse these posters below within the realm of DEI.
Remigio Roque_Education_Analysis of Transgender and Gender-Diverse Curricular Content in Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship Programs in the United States and Canada.
Rukaya Fareh_Clinical (Trainee)_Impact of unconscious race bias amongst anesthesia providers on nonverbal communication during the presurgical anesthesia consult.pdf
We have worked over a year to best represent APOM and OHSU to host the ASN 2024 Meeting. The preparations included the hotel choice, planning, room assignments, snacks, all sorts of transportation, plus social, public events and fund raising. We had many “firsts” this year such as the greatest number of attendees, the greatest number of high school student visitors, most amount of money raised, over-booked public events, the greatest number of poster presentations, and the most attended Gala Dinner.
In particular, the High School Day visit on Tuesday April 16th by Leodis V. McDaniel High School students was a highlight of our meeting. It is ASN’s mission to fuel young generations with an appreciation for science and to encourage them to pursue a career and life in science and medicine. The students enjoyed the experience and were so inspired by the science that they have indicated they are especially enthusiastic about careers as clinicians, pediatric medicine doctors, nurses, or researchers and want to learn more about becoming medical professionals. Many provided their emails to remain in touch to look into internship programs at OHSU. Special thanks to Kate Stout for all her efforts to make this a success.
The APOM research division has recognized the importance of cultural diversity and the celebration that comes with that. In an effort to build community and provide education surrounding various cultures, their leadership has created a calendar of cultural celebrations and will periodically hold festive in-person events to highlight important days from a variety of worldly occasions. They have partnered with our administrative team and look forward to these events in the future. Examples of events this year include important winter holidays, Lunar New Year, Holi, and more!
Featured Departmental DEI Scholarly Activity
“Diversity and Discrimination in Healthcare”
- Dr. Brandon Togioka, 2024
Togioka BM, Duvivier D, Young E. Diversity and Discrimination in Healthcare. 2023 Aug 14. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan–. PMID: 33760480.
- Dr. Brandon Togioka, 2023
Togioka BM, Harriman KA, Ye S, Berli J. Frequency and Characteristics of Postoperative Neuropathy in Individuals on Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy Undergoing Gender Affirmation Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Cureus. 2023 Oct 30;15(10):e47988. doi: 10.7759/cureus.47988. PMID: 38034215; PMCID: PMC10686520.
“Pathways to Leadership: Perspectives from Under-Represented Minority Leaders”
- Dr. Tomás A. Lazo, 2023
Wright, C., Lazo, T., Misra, L., Marshall, L., Vo, C. Pathways to Leadership: Perspectives from Under-Represented Minority Leaders. Oral Presentation at American Society of Anesthesiologists, the Anesthesiology Annual Meeting, October 17, 2023, San Francisco, CA.
“Expanding the Study of Bias in Medical Education Assessment”
- Dr. Amy K. Miller Juve, 2023
Ibrahim H, Juve AM, Amin A, Railey K, Andolsek KM. Expanding the Study of Bias in Medical Education Assessment. J Grad Med Educ. 2023 Dec;15(6):623-626. doi: 10.4300/JGME-D-23-00027.1. PMID: 38045936; PMCID: PMC10686652.
“Limited English proficiency in the labor and delivery unit”
- Dr. Brandon Togioka, 2022
Togioka BM, Seligman KM, Delgado CM. Limited English proficiency in the labor and delivery unit. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2022 Jun 1;35(3):285-291. doi: 10.1097/ACO.0000000000001131. PMID: 35671014.
- Dr. Brandon Togioka, 2019
Togioka BM, Seligman KM, Werntz MK, Yanez ND, Noles LM, Treggiari MM. Education Program Regarding Labor Epidurals Increases Utilization by Hispanic Medicaid Beneficiaries: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Anesthesiology. 2019 Oct;131(4):840-849. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000002868. PMID: 31299658.
Resources
- OHSU Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI)
- Respect for All guide
- How to Respond to a Request for, or Refusal of, Health Care Professionals with Specific Characteristics (and associated policy)
- Reporting Discrimination
- Anti-Racism Educational Resources
- School of Medicine Statement of Commitment to Diversity and Equity
- School of Medicine Diversity and Equity
