Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is one of the core values of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, but what do we mean by these terms and how are we advancing them in all that we do?

Diversity includes not only recognizing the many ways in which people differ from one another, but also accepting and appreciating those differences. It’s not about making us all the same, but rather about understanding and valuing that which makes us different.

We define equity as creating a fair playing field in which every team member has equal opportunity to succeed. It’s about building equitable processes and systems and eliminating disparities within our institutions.

Finally, inclusion involves deliberately creating a community in which all members feel valued, respected, and welcome and in which we all share a sense of belonging.

We’re actively promoting these values through a wide variety of initiatives across every unit of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, which we will be highlighting each month in a new Health Sciences Update feature—DEI Highlights.

Thank you to all who are leading our DEI efforts, and to all who live our DEI values in your daily work.

Please direct questions and comments to evphafeedback@emory.edu.

Jonathan S. Lewin, MD, FACR
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Emory University
Executive Director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center
CEO and Chairman of the Board, Emory Healthcare

Each month, Health Sciences Update will feature highlights of DEI initiatives from a different unit of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, beginning this month with the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

Over the past year, faculty within the School of Nursing have systematically and strategically embedded social determinants of health (SDOH) throughout learning experiences across curricula. Starting first with pre-licensure programs and progressing to graduate programs, developing competencies to assess and address social and structural forces that impact health and health outcomes has become a school-wide approach.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the incredible impact SDOH have on health inequities among individuals, families, and communities, disproportionately affecting racial and ethnic minority groups. Preparing nurses to engage in multifaceted efforts around health disparities is a key element of nursing education. The School of Nursing recognizes the interconnection of SDOH and racial injustice and that embedding those concepts into the curricula is critical to building capacity for a socially and racially conscious nursing workforce.

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine received full approval by the FDA on Monday, August 23. Pfizer achieved full approval before Moderna or Johnson & Johnson because their application was submitted first, not because their vaccine is safer. The vaccines have very similar data for how well they work and how safe they are, and so we anticipate full FDA approval for Moderna in the coming weeks, with Johnson & Johnson to follow shortly thereafter.

For more information on how you can get your vaccination, please go to the following links: emoryhealthcare.org/covid/covid-vaccine-appointments.html or vaccines.gov/

Olatunji Alese has been named to the inaugural cohort of the Kern Fellowship in Interprofessional Leadership. Co-sponsored by the Woodruff Health Educators Academy and the Kern Foundation, the nine-month program provides leadership development for outstanding early- to mid-career health sciences educators and practitioners.

Maggie Diller has been selected as the first recipient of the Department of Surgery Pilot Research Award. The department established the pilot grant/seed funding award to support faculty as they develop a new line of research to further their academic careers.

Janice Lea, professor in the division of Renal Medicine, has been selected for the 2021 Best of Atlanta Award in the Physicians category by the Atlanta Award Program and now qualifies for the 2021 Atlanta Business Hall of Fame. This is the second year in a row that Lea has received a Best of Atlanta Award.

Merry Sebelik has been named a member of the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators™, a distinction recognizing preeminent surgeon educators who have devoted their careers to advancing the science and practice of surgical education.