Department of Neurology

What Are We Doing?

INCLUSION. DIVERSITY. EQUITY. ANTI-RACISM. SOCIAL JUSTICE

Honoring Place

The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.*

Current work

To be able to move forward with different initiatives at a faster pace, we have organized the work of the IDEAS committee in 4 Task Forces.

  1. URM recruitment and retention
  2. Health Disparities
  3. Gender equity
  4. Communications

Each Task Force has a lead contact person, and is currently working on these projects:

URM: Underrepresented minority recruitment and retention: Dr. Breana Taylor
Restructuring the existing offerings for visiting students to attract and better engage URM trainees in hopes that they will apply to UW Neurology residency programs

Health Disparities: Dr. Malveeka Sharma
build a database re: EDI projects and faculty mentors for trainees interested in pursuing health disparities research and QI projects

Gender equity: Dr. Sarah Wahlster
Peer mentoring sessions, similar to LEAD – UW ADVANCE in the UW stem schools in coordination with WIN (Women in Neurology)

Communications: Dr. Flavia Consens
Webpage and improve communication

Existing Opportunities

The Department of Neurology is providing scholarships for qualified candidates who are interested in Neurology and would like to complete a visiting student rotation at the University of Washington. Candidates must be in good standing at an LCME or AOA accredited US medical school and belong to a group that his historically underrepresented in medicine including Black/African American, Native American, Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latino, Pacific Islander, Asian (Filipino, Hmong, or Vietnamese only). Please visit the Christina Marra Visiting Scholars Rotation page for more information.

The University of Washington has partnered with Morehouse School of Medicine to offer 3rd and 4th year medical students attending Morehouse to complete a 4-week neurology clerkship at the University of Washington or Harborview Medical Center.  Since 2014 we have welcomed 1-2 students per year (except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and provided each student with a $2500 stipend to cover travel and housing expenses. We are currently in the process of expanding this program to include URM students attending other schools as well.

* The language we use to honor place was developed over the course of several years by the UW Tribal Liaison with input from tribal elders, elected tribal leaders, attendees of the annual UW Tribal Leadership Summit, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, UW Native American Advisory Board and others across our community. This language template is spoken by UW leadership during events to acknowledge that our campus sits on occupied land. We recognize that this is a difficult, painful and long history, and we thank the original caretakers of this land. Taken and adapted from https://www.washington.edu/omad/about-omad/