UCGHI Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Recommendations

UCGHI stands in solidarity against systemic racism, police brutality, and injustice – atrocities that tear down the health and well-being of Black communities. To be silent and to continue with business as usual is to be complicit. We, as individuals and as an institution stand with you. Black Lives Matter.

UCGHI established the UCGHI Black Lives Matter (BLM)Task Force in June 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement to address systemic racism starting within our own Institute. Currently, we have 16 faculty, staff, and student members of the Task Force with representation from 8 UC campuses and the Office of the President (UCOP). The BLM Task Force was asked to engage in discussions and highlight areas that need further attention in diversity, equity, and inclusion and anti-racism at UCGHI.

Overview of UCGHI DEI journey:

DEI Recommendations for 2021:

These recommendations are a product of contributions from the UCGHI Black Lives Matter Task Force, UCGHI Leadership Team, UCGHI Board of Directors as well as the UCGHI community (DEI Survey Results Report). UCGHI recognizes that there is still more work to be done and that this work takes time. This is an overview of UCGHI’s evolving action plan to better integrate anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion into the fabric of our Institute that we share with our community to keep us accountable. This is an on-going process and will be revisited, updated periodically, and we welcome dialogue.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the UCGHI Director/BLM Task Force co-Chair, Tom Coates: TCoates@mednet.ucla.edu and UCGHI Deputy Director/BLM Task Force co-chair, Sun Cotter: sun.cotter@ucsf.edu.

  1. Decolonizing Global Health

  • Engage, educate, and reflect for action towards decolonizing global health:
    • Global Health Day 2021: Theme: Decolonizing Global Health to Advance Health Equity
    • Virtual Webinar Conversation Series: In collaboration with international partners, develop a webinar conversation series.
    • Position paper elucidating UCGHI’s position on Decolonizing Global Health and its implications for our work
    • Examine UCGHI’s engagement with international partners to ensure that all collaborations adhere to the principles of full and equal partnerships
    • Emphasize the important focus on health inequities locally and globally.
  • Launch an open-access journal, Advances in Global Health, that prioritizes amplifying global voices: Advances in Global Health is a peer-reviewed, open access, research journal that is focused on advancing health equity throughout the world, and is committed to decolonizing and democratizing global health. Two-thirds of the Editorial Board is comprised of leading scientists from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The journal is dedicated to inclusivity and seeks to involve researchers from LMICs in all aspects of the journal, and specifically, encourages contributions from authors situated in these regions.

  1. UCGHI Administration

  • Diversity UCGHI leadership: UCGHI is committed to diversifying its leadership, including the UCGHI Board of Directors
  • Engage international partners as thought partners to rethink the UCGHI structure for active involvement
  • Publicize and participate in UCOP’s Continuing the Conversation on Race series for UC faculty, staff, and students on the campuses
  • Continue to educate ourselves on diversity, equity, and inclusion, systemic racism, microaggressions, unconscious bias, allyship, and anti-racism

  1. Diversifying the Global Health Workforce

  • Increase submission and awards of NIH Training Grants for LMIC Scientists: UCGHI will engage with faculty across UC to provide a wider array of training opportunities for scientists in our LMIC partner countries
  • Increase the racial and ethnic diversity of trainees in existing training program, e.g. the GloCal Health Fellowship
  • Increase submissions and awards of NIH Diversity Supplements UC system-wide:  Conduct campaign to stimulate submission of NIH Diversity Supplements from UC faculty
  • Implement incubator award grants program to create a new Centers of Expertise,  focused on a variety of topics or approaches but which integrate anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion to address health inequities
  • Encourage diverse global health research teams that include, following the NIH definitions, members from backgrounds who are otherwise not be adequately represented in global health. This includes individuals from gender, racial or ethnic groups underrepresented in global health; with disabilities; and from disadvantaged backgrounds or areas of the country.
  • Collaborate with UCOP to promote greater diversity among UC undergraduates, graduates, and faculty

  1. Research & Education

  • Continue actively listening to UCGHI community through annual UCGHI DEI survey and course-correct action plan when necessary
  • Focus on global health equity approach in all research and educational activities
  • Integrate DEI into all UCGHI existing and new research and education programs: All UCGHI programs will examine and better integrate DEI into existing and new research and education programs.

  1. UCGHI Anti-Racism Communications Strategy

  • Promote, increase awareness, and amplify diverse voices of UCGHI global partners