On Jan. 21, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) hosted their MLK day lecture on ‘Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity – Our Collective Responsibility,’ given by Dr. Deborah Deas, professor of psychiatry and Mark and Pam Rubin Dean of the School of Medicine and CEO for clinical affairs at the University of California-Riverside. VUMC’s MLK Lecture is the longest running event on campus celebrating the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The purpose of this lecture is to reconnect to the vision and work of Dr. King Jr. as it relates to working to solve the health disparities that exist among underrepresented communities.

Before Dr. Deas’s lecture, the United Voices of Vanderbilt Choir, a group composed of members across the VUMC community, performed hymns for the audience. Afterwards, the MLK awards, which are awarded to members of the VUMC community that emulate the teachings of Dr. King Jr. through their work, were given to Janet Rachel, a Talent Acquisition Manager for VUMC’s HR Talent Operations, and Dr. Sonya Reid-Lawrence, a 1st year Hematology/Oncology Fellow.

Dr. Deas’s lecture focused on the importance of diversity in the medical community with the point that a patient’s race and ethnicity could determine the quality of medical care that they receive. Through various statistics, she showed that between 2015 and 2019, there was only a 2.3% increase in medical students from groups underrepresented in medicine and that women and minorities are not promoted as much as other groups in the medical education system.

Dr. Deas called for an increase in representation for African-Americans, Hispanics, and other minority groups in all aspects of the medical pipeline, from medical school matriculants to medical school deans. In addition, she provided guidelines as to how this could be achieved, from becoming advising medical residents to curb unconscious biases to including diversity promotion as part of evaluation metrics.

She concluded by highlighting that increasing diversity in medical staff would help to increase the quality of patient care and patient trust, especially among minority groups.

In the spirit of Dr. King, she wrapped up with one of his quotes as it related to the ‘collective responsibility’ of the medical community in promoting diversity.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”