Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity

The Achievers Award Program recognizes and highlights those across Johns Hopkins Medicine who exemplify excellence and exhibit our core values. Submit a nomination for an individual who contributes to the healthcare filed and/or the surrounding community. The nomination period is November 23rd thru December 18th.

National Native American Heritage Month is a time to acknowledge the important contributions of our native people, American Indian/Alaskan Natives (AI/AN). Native American Heritage Month started in 1976 as Native American Awareness Week. Every year since 1994, the United States President makes an annual proclamation encouraging Americans to use November to learn more about Native American culture. For an in-depth understanding of our native people, we are pleased to release this heritage guide, which will allow you to recognize and commemorate this observance. Check out our event page for a list of upcoming events this month honoring Native American heritage.

On Nov. 11th, we celebrate Veterans Day, to honor and pay respect to America’s veterans for their patriotism and willingness to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Please take this opportunity to learn about veterans within Johns Hopkins Medicine and the ways they improve our communities. Check out our event page for a list of upcoming veterans day programs.

Meet the Veterans Day Achievers Award Recipients:

Kassim Alli-Balogun is the Case Manager with Johns Hopkins Home Care Group who engages the patients with whom he visits in promoting a healthy lifestyle. As any of his patients are veterans who may be having difficulty with transition to civilian life, he takes on the role of mentor and helps them to research and choose career paths that align with their interests after they leave the service. Additionally, he assist them in making arrangements for resources through the Veterans Administration.

Dr. Thomas Cudjoe, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in JHU Department of Geriatric Medicine/Gerontology and a Major in the US Army Reserves. In addition to his clinical practice, he is engaged with various community organizations and initiatives in the Baltimore area. He serves as the Vice President and Early Childhood Committee Chair on the East Baltimore Community School Board, a Commissioner on the Baltimore City Commission on Aging and Retirement Education, an advisor to the Reservoir Hill Association, and a volunteer with the Mary Harvin Senior Transformation Center. In his capacity in the Army Reserves, Dr. Cudjoe was mobilized to support the Army’s medical readiness mission in El Paso, Texas in October of 2019 and again in 2020 to support the Army’s effort to support the civilian population of Newark, New Jersey who were faced with great difficulties in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vincent Reed is the Director of Advanced Practice Provider Student at Bayview Medical Center Emergency Department. In his clinical role, he has laid the foundation for the provision of high-quality emergency medical care by kindling or reinforcing the passion for emergency medicine in the students who rotate through Bayview. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the Maryland National Guard, he has supervised upwards of 25 military medics and has been intimately involved with the effort to support nursing homes throughout the State of Maryland.  Reed  has twice received the Physician Assistant of the Year Award from the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Residency (2015, 2016) and in 2017 received the Miller Coulson Physician Assistant Clinical Excellence Award.

Ralph Willoughby, RN is a Surgical Nurse and Surgery Program Manager at All Children’s Hospital. His devoted work on safety protocols in surgery includes to improve the current work flow system. To be respectful of cultural differences, Willoughby researched how the supplies they use in surgeries may conflict with certain religious beliefs of patients. He also directly support humanitarian efforts in Africa, the middle east, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Europe encouraging healthcare best practice while recognizing cultural differences.

JHM Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity
Fast Facts Definition Sheet

Diversity: Any collective mixture characterized by differences including (but not limited to) socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability status, or veteran status. Diversity focuses on representation.

• Being invited to the dance.

 

Inclusion: A practice of encouraging belonging and participation and celebration of differences. Inclusion focuses on involvement.

• Being asked to dance.

 

Equity: According to the World Health Organization, equity is the absence of avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically; equity is the process and equality is the outcome (see the graphic below). Equity focuses on justice.

• A practice of addressing the unique barriers that disadvantage a subset of the population because of their differences—providing transportation for those who do not have a ride to the dance.

Download the full fact sheet 

To the Johns Hopkins Medicine Community

Dear Colleagues,

The mission of Johns Hopkins Medicine speaks to the values of our organization — namely, to “improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care.” Deeply embedded in this objective is the recognition that our institution cannot fulfill its mission without appropriately focusing on the values that guide us. This can be best described as our embrace of diversity and inclusion.

Johns Hopkins Medicine is fully committed to serving the broader community. We must, and will, celebrate not only what makes us individually different and unique, but also what binds us together as a society. The health and well-being of the people we serve as an historic medical institution is critically important. Also vital is our respect for everyone employed by our organization, as well as anyone with whom our institution comes into contact. Johns Hopkins supports the noble cause of promoting social justice and joins the greater community, both near and far, in condemning and opposing racism, bigotry and intolerance in all forms.

Black lives do indeed matter. This nation’s history does not always reflect the lofty sentiments expressed in its founding documents. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were not ideals originally afforded to everyone. For far too long, our nation has struggled to ensure equal justice under law for all its citizens. From the abolition of slavery, to efforts to desegregate how we interacted with one another in public places, to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, finding a more perfect union has always been our shared burden.

Now, present day, we occupy another defining moment in our nation’s history. A time when we are presented with yet another opportunity to demonstrate that we, collectively, can rise above partisanship and deeply entrenched cultural beliefs to become better versions of ourselves. We can, and must, face this opportunity collectively. In doing so, we have the ability to steer the direction of our nation to its proper path. As an institution, Johns Hopkins Medicine is committed to undertaking this endeavor by doing its part to foster understanding, collaboration and dialog designed to bridge whatever artificial divides or obstacles have served as barriers to progress in the past.

Black Lives Matter is not a political statement. Rather, it is the expression of a core value and principle that was unfortunately long denied to many of our citizens. Just as with White Coats for Black Lives, it is a statement of peace and solidarity that our organization embraces, not a comment meant to sow division and mistrust.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remarked, “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” These powerful words recognize that we are united by a common destiny. One that requires shared sacrifice and mutual understanding. Together, we have the power to make permanent and lasting change for the better. And together, we can create a better future for the generations that follow. We are guided by these values, and we will live up to our obligations.

 

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.

Dean of the Medical Faculty

CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

 

Kevin W. Sowers, M.S.N., R.N., F.A.A.N.

President, Johns Hopkins Health System

EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine

 

Inez Stewart, M.Ed.

Senior Vice President

Chief Human Resources Officer

Johns Hopkins Medicine

We recognize that we have a lot more work to do to bring about systemic culture change that will address structural racism within our own organization and enhance the work experience for all of our employees. The JHM Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity (ODIHE) is committed to providing diversity, inclusion, health equity, and cultural competency training across Johns Hopkins Medicine and committed to listening, understanding and implementing strategies to advance and strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Below are lists of resources for your department/unit leadership and staff.

##HopkinsStrongerTogether!

• Context of the 2020 Civic Unrest
• Town Hall Racial Discussion Template
• Support Resources for Black Individuals and Communities
• 10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship
• Suggested Readings, Documentaries, and Movies
  • Suggested Race Education Reading List
  • Additional Suggested Readings
  • JH Resource Guide
• 400 Years of African-American History in Maryland
• Johns Hopkins Stands in Solidarity Against Racism and Inequity
• Tips for Managers in the Workplace
• Interrupting Bias: Calling Out vs. Calling In

 

Suggested Resources: Talking to Children About Race

• Four Questions to Ask Yourself Before Talking to Your Kids About Racism
• A Parent's Guide to Preventing and Responding to Prejudice
• "But Daddy, Why Was He Shot?": How to Talk to Children about Race
• Talking to Kids about Ahmaud
• I'm a White Mother of a Black Son and We All Need to Talk to Our Kids About Ahmaud Arbery
• White Parents: Here's How To (and How Not To) Talk to Your Kids About Racism
• A Conversation to Consider: Get Home Safely: 10 Rules of Survival
• Imani Perry | Breathe: A Letter to My Sons (Interview, Book Link, Article)
• WBUR.ORG Interview on The Importance of Addressing Race with Your Children
• How to Talk to Your Children about Protests and Racism
• Talking to Kids About Race
• Resources for Talking About Race, Racism and Racialized Violence with Kids
• 10 Ways to Start a Conversation About Race
• Harford County Public Library: Resources on Discussing Racism

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

Spanish Patient COVID website