Our Diversity

These are the diversity goals we strive to achieve in our program

Achieving diversity in resident recruitment, selection, and retention

The internal medicine residency program at MLKCH believes that demonstrating a strong commitment to diversity is critical to the community and to our institution. We believe that developing a learning environment where individual differences are valued will allow our residents to grow professionally and personally. Our program will achieve diversity training, and recruitment selection and retention through the following ways:

1. Ensure the program’s diversity initiatives are a part of the overall strategic goals of the organization through accountability where the program will utilize a scorecard to track progress of diverse applicants.
2. Our residency will develop diversity champions, such as residents who will advocate on behalf of the diversity initiatives. The resident diversity champion will participate in MLKCH’s events that celebrate diversity and be a part of MLKCH’s diversity-focused committees.
3. The Program director, program coordinator, and core faculty will create criteria to recruit a diverse group of applicants by broadening admissions criteria beyond quantitative measures. This includes noncognitive indicators such as letters of recommendation, personal interviews, extracurricular accomplishments, and challenges that individuals have overcome.
4. Show medical students that we are dedicated to recruiting underrepresented minorities by conducting presentations, seminars at medical schools around the Los Angeles area, residency fairs, and national meetings such as the ACGME and AAIM.
5. Development of curriculum dedicated to diversity issues such as addressing healthcare disparities.
6. Development of culturally competent faculty for their participation in the candidate interview process.
7. Assist medical students and residents from diverse backgrounds in locating various loan forgiveness programs, intended to grow and retain primary care physicians in underserved areas.

Achieving/ensuring diversity in individuals participating in the program (e.g., faculty, administrative personnel, etc.)

Efforts to recruit and retain diverse trainees are also closely linked to the program’s strategies designed to improve the diversity of the program faculty and administrative personnel. At MLKCH, we believe that our faculty should be as diverse as the residents that make up our program. To ensure recruitment of diverse faculty, the Internal Medicine Residency Program will implement aggressive advertising and networking strategies. The program will also involve individuals from outside the hiring department, who are committed to reducing bias or as “trainers” to assist committee members in recognizing hidden bias as it relates to hiring decisions. Furthermore, our program will achieve diversity of the individuals participating in the Internal Medicine Residency Program through the following measures:

1. Recognize the importance of faculty development by discussing topics such as diversity and healthcare disparities, so as to improve their own professional growth. The program will also provide protected time to faculty to attend off-site seminars related to diversity.
2. Create initiatives to improve retention through the formation of an MLCKH GME Diversity & Inclusion Council to address faculty recruitment and retention and improve all diversity and inclusion efforts.
3. Establish a Diversity Recruitment Committee, as a sub-committee of the MLKCH GME Diversity & Inclusion Council. The Diversity Recruitment Committee will be made up of faculty who are responsible for recruiting individuals of underrepresented groups.
4. Prepare faculty members of underrepresented groups to advance from faculty to core faculty, training them for management positions within graduate medical education.
5. Maintain professional relationships with learners, from medical students to those who join our program, in order to advance them into faculty positions.