Office of Multicultural Affairs
The Office of Multicultural Affairs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center was created in 2008 to affirm the institution’s longstanding commitment to our growing number of diverse faculty and staff, and to expand its collaborations with its community partners to make health care more responsive to the needs of all the people we serve.
Our society has come a long way since the days when the former Beth Israel Hospital was founded as a premier medical center where the Jewish community, and other groups not welcome at Boston’s renowned hospitals, could receive the same top quality health care. That core mission of openness and nondiscrimination has always guided our work, and has expression today in the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
Our history inspires us to continue our efforts to redress inequalities in the health care system. The Office of Multicultural Affairs will strive to increase the number of under-represented minority physicians in our ranks and to support those who are already our colleagues here, because we recognize that our collective wisdom is richer when it includes and values the experiences of African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered people, and the disabled, who may have faced barriers to entering and staying in the health professions. The Office of Multicultural Affairs also works to inform all in our community about the ongoing disparities in health status affecting people of color, sexual minorities, and the disabled, and to educate about the cross-cultural dynamics that impact on how these groups access and experience health care.
In keeping with our missions of promoting tolerance and respect, abetting professional advancement, and teaching across and about cultures and health, the Office of Multicultural Affairs is proud to announce its inaugural event: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will host the National Leadership Institute Conference of the Student National Medical Association on September 25-27, 2009! The SNMA is the nation’s premier student-run African American medical professional organization, with over 8,000 members. We expect to attract almost 200 talented premedical students, medical students, and young physicians for three days of intensive skills-building, networking, and mentoring – and plenty of fun! For more information about the conference, please contact Courtney O’Neill in the Office of Multicultural Affairs at 617.667.9120, or visit the SNMA website, www.snma.org.
