At the start of a meeting, give participants a few moments to reflect quietly on the subject at hand, then call on each person for their thoughts. When people do speak, “listen to understand, and not to reply.” 

These were some of the specific and achievable strategies discussed in the inaugural Health Care Inclusion Summit, which was in June at the Corporate Services Center and sponsored by Mount Sinai’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) and leadership in Service Excellence and Patient Experience.

The keynote speaker of the event was Mary-Frances Winters, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Winters Group, a diversity and inclusion consulting firm that has been working with top leaders of the Mount Sinai Health System on inclusion strategies for more than a year. “It is important to recognize that inclusion is a developmental process,” Ms. Winters said. “We must address changes in attitudes one stage at a time.”

Leona Hess, PhD, left, and Ann-Gel Palermo, DrPH, MPH, led a discussion on the mindsets of inclusive change makers.

Ms. Winters used an interactive tool to ask the 150 attendees how they defined themselves. The anonymous answers appeared on a screen at the front of the room:  A daughter, a Buddhist, an African American mom, a gay man, a husband, a millennial, a person with ADHD. These “identity markers”—some visible and some not visible—influence how each person sees and reacts to the world, Ms. Winters said, and understanding this is the beginning of understanding and accepting others.

Panelists during the half-day summit were David Muller, MD, FACP, Dean for Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Chaplain Rocky Walker, MDiv, Center for Spirituality and Health, Mount Sinai Health System; and Erica Rubinstein, LCSW, CPXP, Vice President, Service Excellence and Patient Experience, Mount Sinai Health System. Maxine Legall, MBA, MSW, Assistant Director, Patient Experience, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, served as the moderator.

The panelists said that both staff and patients were benefiting from inclusion efforts—which have the overarching goal of making every person feel heard, understood, and respected. Among other measures, the Health System has revamped a panel that addresses patient complaints and created the Strategic Leadership Collaborative to improve equity in medical education. In addition, ODI has expanded its portfolio of education and training on unconscious bias, LGBTQ health care and workplace equity, and cultural and disability awareness.

Leona Hess, PhD, Director of Strategy and Equity Education Programs for Medical Education led a discussion on the mindsets of the inclusive change-maker with Ann-Gel Palermo, DrPH, MPH, Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in Biomedical Education, and Chief Program Officer, Office for Diversity and Inclusion. Attendees were advised to focus on how their mindset as a leader was created and how it informs their interactions with staff and patients. “Understanding your own personal and social identity is critical for the development of the skills and behaviors needed to understand, work with, and integrate the perspectives of staff and patients with a diversity of identities.” Dr. Hess said.

Planning is already underway for a summit next year, said Pamela Y. Abner, MPA, CPXP, Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Office for Diversity and Inclusion. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” she said after the event.  “We see an opportunity to make inclusion and equity even more integral to patient care, medical education, and every other facet of the Health System.”

Takeaway thoughts

“You have to stay open to different perspectives and different mindsets. Be open to other voices that might challenge you.”

Erica Rubinstein, LCSW, CPXP

“I have learned that you have to have humility—professionally and personally. Just take a step back and listen to people.”

David Muller, MD, FACP

Scholar-athletes learned about careers in health care, medicine, and science—and learned that they might have exactly the right attributes to succeed—at the inaugural NYC-SWAG (Scholar-Athletes With Academic Goals) Summit. About 120 participants attended the event, held in June in Davis Auditorium, including students from middle school to college, parents, teachers, coaches, and medical professionals who were once student-athletes themselves.

From left: Reginald W. Miller, DVM, DACALM, Dean for Research Operations and Infrastructure, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Hannah Valantine, MD, Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, National Institutes of Health; Brian Hainline, MD, Chief Medical Officer, National Collegiate Athletic Association; Norma Poll-Hunter, PhD, Senior Director, Human Capital Initiatives, Association of American Medical Colleges; and Gary C. Butts, MD, Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy and Community Affairs, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

In planning the Summit, “the conversation started around the severe lack of African American and Latino males in science and medicine, and expanded into a conversation around the larger student body of athletes,” said Reginald W. Miller, DVM, DACLAM, Dean for Research Operations and Infrastructure, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The event was hosted by the School of Medicine’s Diversity in Biomedical Research Council and the Mount Sinai Health System’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Young people who participate in athletics are developing important habits of mind, said the keynote speaker, Hannah Valantine, MD, Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, National Institutes of Health. “Confidence, self-discipline, time management: these are all things that are critically important to be successful as a researcher and a scientist, and you already have it,” she told the attendees.

Speakers also included Brian Hainline, MD, Chief Medical Officer, National Collegiate Athletic Association; and Norma Poll- Hunter, PhD, Senior Director, Human Capital Initiatives, Association of American Medical Colleges. A panel of premed and medical students who had competed in swimming, rowing, football, and basketball shared practical tips: don’t neglect your studies; network; schedule time for plenty of sleep; and seek an internship in medicine or research. They said medical school might actually be easier than juggling school and sports.

The panel was led by Valerie Parkas, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Recruitment and Admissions, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Parkas said that she herself competed as a gymnast in college and that athletes often have attributes that allow them to be successful professionals in all spheres, but particularly in STEM careers and in medicine. “We are looking for young people who are hardworking, who are motivated, who have grit, who are team players, who are leaders,” Dr. Parkas said. “And those are young people who have been athletes their whole lives.”

Alvin Alonso, a student at Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health and Science Charter School in the Bronx, said the Summit gave him a lot of motivation. “It brought my hopes up,” he said. “It told me that anything is possible if you just put your mind to it.”

Mount Sinai Queens staff, family, and friends at the Queens Pride parade.

The Mount Sinai Health System observed Pride Month and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising with festive events in June. Contingents from Mount Sinai took part in the Queens Pride parade on Sunday, June 2, and in the NYC Pride parade in Manhattan on Sunday, June 30. At Pride fairs throughout the month, staff of LGBT Health Services, the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, the Institute for Advanced Medicine, and the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center distributed free condoms, informational pamphlets, and fun favors.

On Thursday, June 27, about 400 attended Mount Sinai’s Pride Celebration at the House of Yes venue in Brooklyn. “We have the largest representation in LGBTQ health delivery in the New York City area, and what we do saves lives every day,” David L. Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens, told the attendees. “The reason we are such an amazing health system is because of all of you.”