The ACLP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force: Promoting Critical Change for Our Members, Trainees, Patients, and Field

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Societal events in the U.S. over the past year have starkly highlighted issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), from the deaths of Black individuals in police custody to the health and social inequities noted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, many medical professional organizations focused on DEI issues with renewed vigor. ACLP established a DEI Presidential Task Force to “identify areas for improvement and make recommendations to the Board” regarding DEI within several facets of the organization, including membership, recruitment, and appointments to leadership positions and committees. The findings of this task force have significant relevance to multiple aspects of our professional lives, including our work as educators developing curricula resources and recruiting trainees, as members of an organization seeking to provide mentorship and recruit a more diverse membership, and as researchers and clinicians seeking to reduce health care disparities among our patients who come to us with diverse backgrounds, identities, and varying degrees of disenfranchisement. Its recommendations also have the potential to help foster a culture in which all ACLP members feel included and their voices respected and heard, regardless of how they identify. Promoting DEI is critical to the future health of our organization and to the care and education that C-L psychiatrists provide.

While the task force has provided its report to the Board, this session will provide further insights into its findings and recommendations, how its work was conducted, and its decision-making process regarding far-reaching issues and multiple priorities. Attendees will also learn more about the intersection among the task force, the consultants on an ACLP DEI survey, and the newly established DEI subcommittee.

Kewchang Lee, MD, the Chair of the Task Force, will outline its process and its intersection with the DEI survey and Subcommittee. Andrew Halls, MD, will describe the considerations that went into our recommendations regarding governance, including those on committees and special interest groups. Cristina Montalvo, MD, will discuss the potential development of an ACLP pipeline program, including models that have already been successfully implemented. Kristin Beizai, MD, will describe possible means for enhancing education on DEI, cultural humility, and structural competency in ACLP forums. Mark Bradley, MD, will focus on scholarship and research, including the potential for ACLP to help address health care disparities and inequities in care.