Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and anti-racism continue to be important priorities for the American College Surgeons (ACS) as a means to ensuring all patients receive safe, effective, reliable, and value-based care. This column should bring you up to speed on where these efforts stand.
Surgical society retreat
As most of you know, the College hosted a virtual Promoting DEI & Anti-Racism: Professional Surgical Society Retreat June 23. This summit convened the House of Surgery and included an address from Ibram X. Kendi, PhD, a professor at American University, Washington, DC, followed by a fireside chat with Wayne A. I. Frederick, MD, MBA, FACS, president, Howard University, also in Washington.
Dr. Kendi described his experience as a patient diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer. The power and poignancy of his story brought to life for the participants disparities in care that face patients even in cities as diverse and multicultural as our nation’s capital. It inspired all of us to really make the best use of the retreat to forge a path forward to improve patient care for all, and to establish initiatives that will ensure patients of all races and creeds receive equitable, quality care.
Following a fireside chat with Dr. Kendi and Dr. Frederick, attendees transitioned to breakout sessions designed to discuss DEI and anti-racism initiatives across all organizations, share best practices, and determine initiatives that can have the greatest impact. More than 100 individuals participated in the retreat, including representatives from 54 organizations, 13 ACS Advisory Councils, 17 surgical boards, the Board of Regents, ACS Officers, and ACS executive leadership staff.
A key purpose of the breakout sessions was to allow representatives of our partner organizations to share the challenges surgical societies are experiencing on their DEI and anti-racism journey, strategies for confronting those barriers, future directions, and, importantly, what the College can do to help.
Most of the groups indicated that they have established panels similar to the ACS Task Force on Racial Issues, which was established last year by ACS President J. Wayne Meredith, MD, FACS, MCCM (then President-Elect), and which has subsequently become an arm of the Regents Committee on Anti-Racism under the leadership of ACS Regent Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, FACS. Many also have created or plan to establish an office of DEI to ensure that staff and members are educated about related issues and have a full understanding of what DEI means, and that leadership, staff, and members are aligned and speaking the same language. We agreed that these principles need to be woven into the fabric of our organizations to bring about meaningful change to set the stage for the future.
Matching grant program
We concurred that this retreat and the efforts to date are just the beginning of determining the root causes of systemic inequities, implicit biases, and microaggressions toward women, Black and Asian people, and people with varying sexual and gender identities. Hence, at the retreat, the ACS Board of Regents announced a matching grant program focused on funding innovative and impactful research projects and programs dealing with DEI and anti-racism issues. The ACS intends to catalyze efforts of professional societies, academic departments of surgery, and surgeons in all surgical specialties toward the goal of advancing anti-racism, diversity, inclusion, and gender equity in the field of surgery.
Recently, the ACS Task Force on Racial Issues solicited innovative proposals and programs that will improve the diversity and gender balance of our surgical workforce and its cultural competency, will enrich the pipeline of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in medicine and surgery, and will reduce disparities in health care delivery, particularly in the equitable management of surgery-related diseases. The ACS Task Force on Racial Issues encourages the submission of innovative anti-racism and DEI programs that can be used as templates for wide dissemination throughout the College’s network.
The ACS Task Force on Racial Issues will award eight grants—four $25,000 grants and four $50,000 grants—for one year, with an identical amount matched by the sponsoring society, department, or practice (entity). The taskforce now is reviewing the applications and will be announcing the awardees soon.
Board of Governors Diversity Pillar
The College has launched several important initiatives related to DEI and anti-racism. Much of this work is being led through our recently established Board of Governors (B/G) DEI Pillar, led by Nancy L. Gantt, MD, FACS. This Pillar is collaborating with the five existing B/G Pillars to conduct the following activities:
- Implement the recommendations of the Regental Anti-Racism Committee
- Work with the ACS Office of Diversity to assess the diversity within the B/G across a span of metrics, developing benchmarks and goals
- Identify the structural, procedural, and cultural areas the ACS Governors need to improve
- Facilitate implementation of substantive changes that need to be made at all levels of the ACS
- Develop pipeline strategies in collaboration with ACS committees, workgroups, and Advisory Councils to enhance support of minority members
This B/G Pillar has three workgroups: the Education/Advocacy Workgroup, the Education/Communication Workgroup, and the Toolkit Workgroup.
The Education/Advocacy Workgroup is charged with the following tasks:
- Gather data on the percentage of underrepresented minorities (URMs) at all levels of education in the U.S. to assess where leaks are occurring in the pipeline to becoming surgeons via collaboration with the B/G Advocacy and Education Pillars
- Explore public and private partnerships to enhance opportunities for URMs to enter medicine and surgery
- Identify ongoing/successful public educational and employment DEI initiatives and successful efforts of surgery programs to increase representation of URMs in surgery
- Investigate future collaboration opportunities with the ACS Division of Education on STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) initiatives
- Identify URMs and explore avenues for support, representation, and a voice within the ACS
The Toolkit Workgroup is developing a resource for ACS chapters and partner organizations to enhance DEI in collaboration with the Member Services Pillar’s Chapter Activities Domestic and International Workgroups. The chapters are taking this initiative very seriously, and we look forward to having them join us in providing resources that address their local DEI needs.
The Education/Communication Workgroup is responsible for developing content for the Bulletin, the Bulletin Brief, and Clinical Congress. It collaborates with the B/G Education and Communication Pillars and promotes and disseminates DEI educational modules for Governors and Fellows in collaboration with the ACS Director of Diversity.
Committee on Diversity Issues
The ACS has a longstanding Committee on Diversity Issues, which Amelia Grover, MD, FACS, now chairs. This committee recently launched a Profiles in Diversity Series featuring interviews with ACS anti-racism and DEI thought leaders. Surgeons interviewed to date include the following:
- ACS President-Elect Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon)
- ACS Past-President Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD, FACS, FRCS(Hon), FRCSEd(Hon), FRCSGlasg(Hon), FRCSI(Hon)
- Paris Butler, MD, MPH, FACS, assistant professor of surgery and director of underrepresented in medicine affairs, University of Pennsylvania Health Systems, Philadelphia
- Electron Kebebew, MD, FACS, Harry A. Oberhelman, Jr. and Mark L. Welton Endowed Professor of Surgery, Stanford University, and chief of general surgery, Stanford Healthcare, CA
These interviews are announced regularly in the Bulletin Brief and can be accessed at: https://www.facs.org/about-acs/governance/acs-committees/committee-on-diversity-issues/profiles.
ACS staff initiatives
I am pleased to announce that C. Cie Armstead has recently joined the Executive Services Division in the newly created position of Director of Diversity. In this senior-level management role, Ms. Armstead will lead the development and implementation of proactive anti-racism and DEI initiatives in support of the College’s strategic plan to create a learning and working environment where all ACS members and staff have the opportunity to succeed.
In addition, for the last year, the ACS Staff Addressing Racism Task Force (START) has continued to work hard to educate and train our personnel in anti-racism and DEI and their application in the workplace. ACS START offers regular programs on allyship, anti-racism, and related concepts and has established a library of resources that staff can access. For example, ACS START’s Education, Training, and Resources Group and Affinity Groups offered Lunch and Learn and Safe Space sessions covering what it means to be an ally, how to practice allyship, and provide explanation on the different roles of allyship.
Much more to be done
The College is making great strides in uniting the House of Surgery to tackle what is truly a public health issue. We are off to a great start, but our efforts have only just begun. We need all interested Fellows and members to participate in these initiatives and to propose new strategies. Please reach out to me or any of the leaders identified in this column with your ideas and offers to contribute to their endeavors. Together, we can do great things for all surgical patients.
If you have comments or suggestions about this or other issues, please send them to Dr. Hoyt at lookingforward@facs.org.
