Subcommittees

The Diversity in Residency Training subcommittee will conduct a literature review, examine peer institution and national organization best practices that address recruitment as well as career development of diverse residents and fellows. Its work will include an examination of current HMS and HMS-affiliated hospital and residency program efforts to attract, recruit and retain diverse candidates. Areas of concern and recommendations garnered during TFDI town halls and discussion groups will be taken into consideration. In addition, HMS residency directors will be invited to participate in a retreat where current practices, challenges and potential synergies in programming will be addressed.

The Career Development and Retention of Diverse Faculty subcommittee will examine factors impacting retention and advancement of diverse faculty including examination of past and current programming and resources. This committee will conduct a literature review, examine best practices at peer institutions, document national trends and identify areas for improvement.

The Culture, Climate and Communication subcommittee will identify key trainings (e.g., unconscious bias), initiatives, programming, resources, etc. to build a more diverse and inclusive community at HMS. In addition to examining best practices at other institutions, reviewing recommendations from HMS TFDI and Harvard University Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging town halls and discussion groups, this subcommittee will seek recommendations from other TFDI subcommittees, examining them for synergies, “low hanging fruit,” and prioritizing recommendations.

The Diversity Pipeline and Community Engagement subcommittee will examine current HMS diversity pipeline programming from K-12 through medical/graduate student levels with a particular emphasis on STEM education, programs that foster student persistence in science and those that involve community partnership/engagement. They will identify gaps and synergies, and opportunities for collaboration within the Harvard and HMS-affiliated community as well as with other organizations. This work will include identifying areas where we are least effective and may require redirection, as well as comparison review of effective programs at peer institutions.

The Diversity in Scientific Pathways subcommittee will assess current HMS scientific diversity resources, programs and outcomes of recruitment efforts, as well as review national trends in STEM education and training and conduct a literature review. They will identify best practices for developing, recruiting, retaining and advancing diverse students and early career scientist in STEM and biomedical fields with a focus on graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

The metrics subcommittee of the HMS Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion will be responsible for identification of the dimensions of diversity that will be tracked, including making recommendations for modifications of those dimensions over time; development of metrics to be used for internal accountability and external transparency; and evaluation of the impact of diversity and inclusion programs. Throughout its work, the metrics subcommittee will take into consideration the deliberations and recommendations of the other task force subcommittees. They will recommend metrics for new programs to consider capturing, policies and practices based on evidence and evaluative data using a model of continuous process improvement. The metrics subcommittee will recommend the creation of data reporting standards pertaining to both content and frequency, and will identify potential parties for collecting and reporting on the data. The subcommittee will also examine national trends and anticipate future directions related to diversity and inclusion metrics to inform its recommendations.