“Great minds think differently.” If there was a unifying idea expressed by speakers at the Department of Medicine’s first diversity and inclusion week, it was probably that.
Hannah Valantine, MD, of the National Institutes of Health, said it first, when she opened the Jan. 29 sessions with her grand rounds presentation. Sonia Aranza, a global diversity and inclusion strategist, echoed these words when she spoke on multigenerational diversity later that day.
Both women, along with various other speakers, sought to challenge conventional wisdom about diversity, including the idea that representation and hiring diverse candidates is enough. Instead, they pushed the idea that, as Aranza put it, “diversity just is,” and the real challenge is making inclusion work, particularly at the institutional level.
