Good morning, Folks.
Here is the D&I update for September.
From Sept 15 to Oct 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. In honor of this, Duke’s Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) is hosting a gala in the Trent Semans Center Great Hall, October 5 at 6:00 PM. The Neurology Department is helping to sponsor this event and if you are interested in attending, please see the attached invitation to register.
The first D&I Grand Rounds of the year is tomorrow! [Ed: Here is a link to the recording]. We will be hosting Lahoma Smith Romocki, PhD and Cindy Waszak Geary who co-authored the book Going to School in Black and White, a dual memoir of desegregating Durham public schools. You can check out the book here: https://www.goingtoschoolinblackandwhite.com/. I highly recommend reading their stories. It’s well-written and engaging. They’ll give a preview tomorrow to get you interested, but they won’t have time to cover everything that’s in the book. It’s available as an audiobook if you prefer that.
A subcommittee of the D&I Committee is finalizing its selection for the new Director of Community Engagement and Education position. Look for an announcement soon. This person will lead our efforts to work together with the Durham and Triangle community to build relationships, improve neurological health, encourage participation by diverse groups in our clinical research, and learn what we can do to best help our patients.
Important upcoming dates:
- Sept 24-25: Yom Kippur (Jewish)
- Sept 27: Mawlid (Islam)
- Sept 29-Oct 15 Pitru Paksha (Hindu)
- October: Global Diversity Awareness Month
- October: National Polish American Heritage Month
- October 9: Indigenous People’s Day/Columbus Day
Reminders:
Save the date:
April 6, 2024 will be our 2nd annual HBCU Neurosciences Career Day. It was a huge success this year, and we’re hoping to grow next year, which will mean more volunteers from the department.
Our D&I theme for the year is “Accountability.”