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As an Organization

The steps taken by Johns Hopkins Medicine as an organization to embrace diversity show our level of commitment to this endeavor.

A new vision

To send a clear message that diversity and inclusion are central to Hopkins, these terms were integrated into the mission, vision and values statement of Johns Hopkins Medicine and distributed widely.

Strategic goals

Every entity and department within Johns Hopkins Medicine must address diversity and inclusion in its annual strategic plan. The plans spell out the group’s diversity-related goals, how success will be measured, and how it expects to reach them.

Diversity committees

In April 2006, Hopkins Medicine formed a committee, chaired jointly by Health System Vice President of Human Resources Pamela Paulk and Children’s Center Director George Dover, representing the School of Medicine, to lead this endeavor. The committee reports directly to Dean/CEO Edward Miller on its progress. In addition, some Johns Hopkins entities have created their own diversity councils.

Dean for diversity

To help coordinate our efforts in diversity and inclusion, in January 2009 Brian Gibbs was appointed associate dean for diversity and cultural competence. Gibbs is working to realize the Johns Hopkins Medicine Diversity and Inclusion Vision 2020 Plan . This document sets concrete goals for recruitment and retention, cultural competency in patient care, and eliminating disparities in quality of care and outcomes here. Read more about Gibbs here.

Bayview diversity specialist

In October 2006, Janet Harding became Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s first diversity specialist. Harding coordinates diversity-related efforts, such as working with the hospital’s 40-member Diversity Leadership Council, teaching cross-cultural communications modules and organizing cultural celebrations.

Department of Medicine Diversity Council

Created in 2002, the council has been one of the organization’s early leaders in promoting diversity. The department has paid for underrepresented minority applicants to its residency program to visit Hopkins for a second look, after they have already interviewed. That and other tactics have helped increase minority residents from 7.5 percent in 2000 to about 22 percent today. Each year for three days, the department hosts a visiting professor, a leader in medicine who is an ethnic minority or whose clinical work or research involves minority health. The department also covers housing and travel costs for fourth-year minority medical students from outside Hopkins to come here for a one-month clerkship. Click here for details.

E-learning

Johns Hopkins Medicine International, in conjunction with the School of Public Health's Center for Health Disparities Solutions, offers an e-learning course through hopkinsinteractive.org that gives staff an overview of cultural competency and health disparities.

Trustees’ support

Along with patient safety, enhancing diversity and inclusion has been a top priority for the Johns Hopkins Medicine board of trustees, which receives regular reports from the Diversity Committee. Since 2005, many trustees have supported scholarship programs created to increase diversity among Hopkins medical students.