Announcements from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion

• COVID-19 Resources

  As we face this unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 outbreak, we would like to highlight available resources for our Johns Hopkins employees and the within our community.

  JHM Internal Staff Resources
  JHM Internal Clinical Resources
  Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Resources for Families
  Johns Hopkins Community Resources​​​​​​​

• Celebrating National Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month

  This heritage month focuses on the long and rich history of contributions from Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in industries such as science, medicine, the arts, and many others. At Johns Hopkins Medicine, inclusion is in our DNA. Nearly 13% of our workforce identifies as Asian-American or Pacific Islander, with representation in our labs, among our student learners, at the patient bedside, in administrative roles, and everywhere in between. Meet a few of these employees who were nominated by their peers and selected to receive an Achievers Award this month.

  

  Alice Lee, M.D.
  Office Medical Director, Internal Medicine
  Johns Hopkins Community Physician

  Dr. Lee’s compassionate care for others has earned her trust by her colleagues, staff and patients. She is welcoming to all providers and patients and strives to deliver excellent quality care regardless of patient race or ethnicity. Since Lee speaks fluent Korean, she is able to communicate and educate Korean speaking patients about the healthcare process, making them feel comfortable about their healthcare experience. Dr. Lee also educates staff members about the heterogeneous needs and language/cultural differences so that staff members can more appropriately understand and care for the clinic’s patients.

  Dr. Lee takes the lead in many different initiatives within and outside of our practice. She is the first to sign up for new programs and often proposes and pilots new ideas. She consistently precepts medical students and residents. Lee’s professionalism and care for others exemplifies the Johns Hopkins core values. Lee hopes to serve as a role model not just for Asian Americans or women but for anyone, regardless of race, gender or ethnicity.

  

  Debraj Mukherjee, M.D. M.P.H.
  Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
  Director of Neurosurgical Oncology
  Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

  Dr. Mukherjee has exemplified the JHM core value of Excellence & Discovery through his excellent care of complex neurosurgical patients at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Through his leadership at the Johns Hopkins Neurosurgical Oncology Outcomes Laboratory, his team has produced more than a dozen high-impact clinical research papers within the last year.

  Dr. Mukherjee's research has focused on improving access to care and reducing disparities in minority patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures, including the treatment of brain tumors, which is the core of his clinical practice. Utilizing "big data" analytic techniques to investigate these disparities on a national level, he has helped policy makers take steps to improve patient care for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders.

  As a native speaker, Mukherjee provides compassionate neurosurgical care to the Bengali and Hindi speaking Asian-American communities who seek his clinical expertise. He has a long history of contributing to the lives of the Asian American/Pacific Islander community. Mukherjee has led a university-wide "Inter-Cultural Festival" to highlight the unique attributes and contributions of the South Asian/Pacific Islander community. More recently, he has hosted a "Peace Education Program" to help Asian American members of his local Baltimore community tap in to their inner resources of courage, hope, and peace in their Hindi language.

  As the leader of a diverse clinical research team of over 30 undergraduate and medical students, residents and fellows, Mukherjee has received local and national attention for care of neurological patients and is highly respected among his colleagues.

  Asta Puskarich, BSN
  Registered Nurse, Cardiology, Ambulatory
  Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

  Asta Puskarich serves as a resource to her coworkers by contributing her insights and knowledge about the Asian American culture. She was born in the Philippines, raised in a Thai American home (her mother is from Thailand), and lived in Japan for 8 years. Puskarich’s cultural experiences and knowledge helps her and coworkers to provide culturally competent care to our Asian American patients. She goes out of her way to help others and to make them feel better mentally, emotionally and physically. She respects everyone regardless of their culture or religion.

• New Policy: Prohibiting Discrimination by Patients Against Employees

  At Johns Hopkins Medicine, we are committed to providing patient care in a manner that respects each patient’s right to be an active participant in his or her treatment. While adhering to high patient care standards remains a priority, we are also committed to protecting faculty, staff, residents, postdoctoral fellows and students from discrimination by patients/health care decision-makers.

  With this goal in mind, a new patient discrimination policy went into effect on March 1^st for all employees of Johns Hopkins Medicine. To help you understand and communicate the policy to your team members, see​​​​​​​ Prohibiting Discrimination by Patients Against Employees Policy (ADMIN027): Key Points for Staff.

  1. Prohibiting Discrimination Policy 2-14 2020
  2. Prohibiting Discrimination by Patients against Employees Policy
  3. February 2, 2020 Webinar: Prohibiting Discrimination
  4. FAQ available in MyLearning