TCU and UNTHSC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE RECEIVES HEALTH PROFESSIONS HIGHER EDUCATION EXCELLENCE IN DIVERSITY AWARD

FORT WORTH — The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine received the 2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

As a recipient of the annual Health Professions HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine will be featured, along with 45 other recipients, in the December 2020 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

“As an institution, we work from the paradigm that academic excellence and diversity are inextricably linked,” said Lisa McBride, Ph.D., Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of Medical Education at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. “This recognition by INSIGHT Into Diversity is a manifestation of the commitment our Founding Dean Stuart D. Flynn, M.D. made two years ago as a new medical school—with a mission to transform health care by inspiring Empathetic Scholars™. Our strategy is to integrate diversity and inclusion in everything we do. It starts with our leadership team, our faculty, our staff  and our medical student population.”

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine selected TCU and UNTHSC School of Medcine because of their efforts of building a diverse faculty and inclusive environment through numerous programs and initiatives for faculty, staff and students. The Fort Worth medical school joined other medical schools across the country in the Time’s UP Healthcare Initiative aimed at ending sexual harassment in health care. The medical school is also a part of the Texas Medical Schools’ Diversity and Inclusion Consortium and The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, which is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

The Fort Worth medical school was also a part of The Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, which is a four-day conference that has become the largest gathering of minority doctoral scholars in the country. The medical school also created a six-part Health Disparities Certification Series. The series offered a certificate to the school of medicine by The Center of Excellence on Health Disparities at Morehouse School of Medicine (which was established by Dr. David Satcher, the 16^th Surgeon General of the United States), that was given to faculty, staff and partnering physicians from major health systems all across North Texas.

The Fort Worth medical school’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion also launched the Mentoring Matters! networking series designed to create a community that fosters the success of diverse students and faculty in academic medicine. It included a lecture from Antonia Novello, M.D., the 14^th U.S. Surgeon General, the first woman and first Hispanic to hold this position, and many other prominent physicians from across the country.

The Fort Worth medical school created the SOM Diversity Committee is to develop programs that build and maintain a positive, supportive, and inclusive environment for the school’s faculty, staff, and student populations. Their ongoing training efforts for faculty, staff and students consists of Unconscious Bias Training for Health Professions, Exploring Blind Spots to Build Understanding (Workshop), MED Safe Zone Training and Pronoun Fluency Training.

“The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”

Other recipients of the 2020 Health Professions HEED Award are:

A.T. Still University

California State University, Los Angeles

Columbia University, College of Dental Medicine

Duke University School of Nursing

Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)

Florida State University College of Medicine

Frontier Nursing University

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS)

Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine

MGH Institute of Health Professions

Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine

School of Nursing, University of Minnesota

Texas A&M University – College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

Texas A&M University College of Dentistry

The Medical University of South Carolina

The Ohio State University College of Medicine

The Ohio State University College of Nursing

The Ohio State University College of Optometry

The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine – New York

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health

University of California, Riverside School of Medicine

University of Cincinnati College of Nursing

University of Cincinnati James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy

University of Cincinnati, College of Allied Health Sciences

University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine

University of Florida College of Dentistry

University of Louisville

University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Nursing

University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine

University of Michigan Medical School

University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

University of Rochester School of Nursing

University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy

University of the Incarnate Word Feik School of Pharmacy

University of Virginia School of Medicine

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN)

Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

Weill Cornell Medicine

For more information about the 2020 Health Professions HEED Award, visit insightintodiversity.com.

For more information about TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, visit https://mdschool.tcu.edu .

About the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine

The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, Fort Worth’s M.D. school, opened with a class of 60 students in July 2019. TCU and UNTHSC joined together in July 2015 to form this new allopathic medical school. The School of Medicine’s focus on communication, a first-of-its-kind curriculum and the development of Empathetic Scholars^TM uniquely positions the organization to radically transform medical education, improving care for future generations. To make this new school possible, the greater North Texas community stepped up to help, providing philanthropic support. The school’s current Founding Donors include Alcon, Amon G. Carter Foundation, Baylor Scott & White, The Burnett Foundation, Cook Children’s, Texas Health Resources, Mr. H. Paul Dorman, Mr. Arnold and Mrs. Harriette Gachman, Dr. John and Mrs. Priscilla Geesbreght, Anonymous, Sid W. Richardson Foundation, Rebecca and Jon Brumley, The Morris Foundation, Martha Sue Parr Trust, Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation, and Thomas M., Helen McKee, John P. Ryan Foundation and an anonymous donor.

About INSIGHT Into Diversity

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine is the oldest and largest diversity publication in higher education today and is well-known for its annual Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, the only award recognizing colleges and universities for outstanding diversity and inclusion efforts across their campuses. In addition to its online job board, INSIGHT Into Diversity presents timely, thought-provoking news and feature stories on matters of diversity and inclusion across higher education and beyond. Articles include interviews with innovators and experts, as well as profiles of best practices and exemplary programs. Readers will also discover career opportunities that connect job seekers with institutions and businesses that embrace a diverse and inclusive workforce. Current, archived, and digital issues of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine are available online at insightintodiversity.com.