Community
Duke Surgery endeavors to enhance all engagement with equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). This is realized in the department’s commitment to the seamless integration of EDI principles, moving beyond isolated EDI projects. The Department is actively implementing comprehensive strategies to ensure that we reach individuals of all ages and backgrounds, with the overarching goal of making Duke Surgery an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone.
–Gayle A. DiLalla, MD
Vice Chair of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
With diversity as one of its vital core values, Duke Surgery in recent years has experienced growth from—and established dedicated resources toward—enhanced diversity among faculty, trainees, staff, and partners.
This continued growth and emphasis on fostering an inclusive culture recently led the Duke Department of Surgery to establish an overarching equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) leadership team, with the department’s first ever Vice Chair of EDI at the helm.
Read the full feature story on the Surgery website.
Cultivating Community
The Sustaining Equity, Elevating Diversity in Surgery (SEEDS) Steering Committee, comprised of the EDI Leadership team, focus area leads, the IDEA scholar, and administrative leadership, has welcomed new faces representing different corners of the department.
Together, the Committee has worked alongside 50+ regular focus area members, an additional 50+ event participants, department and hospital leadership, and community leaders to cultivate ideas, develop action plans, and initiate more than 35 new projects across all seven areas of focus.
Members
Projects
Tightening Bonds, Connecting Families
The Duke General Surgery Family Initiative was implemented in 2023 in an effort to connect, celebrate, and support residents and their families.
Several social events are hosted throughout the year, from the Fall Festival at Durham’s Museum of Life and Sciences, to Fun on the Farm at the farm of Louise Jackson, MBBS, Associate Professor of Surgery.
Learning Together
Research seminar dinners are a way for members of the department, colleagues, and interested medical students to come together to listen and discuss pertinent research in EDI-related fields.
These events provide a space for attendees to ask questions, network, and hear more about the importance of and methodology behind research being conducted across the department.
Kelly Seaton, PhD
Senior Scientific Program Leader
Fostering Community Partnerships
Kelly Seaton, PhD, Senior Scientific Program Leader, has taken the lead in fostering a partnership with the Durham chapter of Jack and Jill, through which Duke Surgery has organized engaging science demonstrations for local children. Furthermore, she is at the forefront of an initiative with this organization to arrange a campus visit for teenagers contemplating careers in science and medicine.
Diversifying Surgical Professions
The goal of the Duke Advancing Student Preparedness & Involvement for Representation & Equity in Surgery (ASPIRES) program is to expose underrepresented in medicine (URiM) medical students to surgical specialties early in their medical training and equip them with the resources to become excellent surgeons, with the ultimate purpose of diversifying the surgical profession.
In 2023, Cory Vatsaas, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery and ASPIRES Program Director, gave a presentation titled, “ASPIRES: A Model for Early Surgical Mentorship and Exposure for URiM Students,” at the 2023 Student National Medical Association (SNMA) annual conference.
Enhanced Affinity Group Involvement
In a continued effort to diversify residency programs and faculty, Duke Surgery has expanded involvement and prioritized participation in affinity society meetings.
While maintaining involvement in the SNMA, LMSA, Association of Women Surgeons, Society of Black Academic Surgeons, and Society of Asian American Surgeons, Duke Surgery has also established new institutional memberships with the Latino Surgical Society, Association of Out Surgeons and Allies, and the Association for Academic Surgery, as a means of stronger career development support for faculty and trainees.
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Scholar
General Surgery resident Anthony Eze, MD, was selected as the 2023 IDEA Scholar, a funded fellowship position that enables recipients to dedicate academic time toward completing research and clinical projects focused on tackling inequities that negatively impact surgical practice.
Dr. Eze has showcased a dedication to improving access to surgical care through conducting research alongside Tamara Fitzgerald, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery, in Uganda, and has co-coordinated community events at home in Durham, including the 2023 Duke Surgery Day of Service.
He was also selected as a winner of the 2022 AAST Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Essay Competition for his essay on the lack of access to rehabilitation services for victims of gun violence.
Anthony Eze, MD
Research Resident, General Surgery
Video above: Local news report on the Prescriptions for Repair program
Supporting Gun Violence Survivors
In an effort to address gun violence in Durham, NC, Henry Rice, MD, Chief of the Division of Pediatric General Surgery, successfully piloted a research-backed program called Prescriptions for Repair (P4R) that aims to help gun violence survivors tell their stories through non-judgmental group listening sessions.
The program emphasizes restorative justice—a holistic, psychological- and communication-based approach to crime intervention—and focuses on meeting the mental health needs of victims and their loved ones.
Duke Surgery in the Community
At the heart of the Duke Surgery mission is a conscious effort to engage with the local and broader North Carolina communities that the department serves.
This year, Duke Surgery continued its partnership with Jack and Jill of Durham, where faculty, trainees, and staff volunteered to provide pre-k to high school students with hands-on activities to inspire interest in careers in science.
Also lending their hands were faculty within the Division of Surgical Oncology, who spent a day volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Durham to help build homes for those in need (pictured below).
Akwari Society's First-Year Growth
In April 2023, The Akwari Society hosted its inaugural essay contest, which asked entrants to discuss the impact of human values in surgical training.
General Surgery resident Kevin Ig-Izevbekhai, MD, was honored as the winner of the essay contest, in which he shared, “Insofar as we are accountable for the patient in front of us, we illustrate the unmistakably human image of the surgeon.”
The Akwari Society also announced its inaugural membership cohort shortly following its one-year anniversary, comprised of 34 faculty, trainees, and researchers across the Departments of Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, and Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences.
Give to Duke Surgery’s Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Fund
Gifts to the Duke Surgery Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Fund aid in development and implementation of initiatives that: support faculty, staff, and trainee development; provide accessible care for our patients around the community; and establish more direct educational opportunities for URiM students and trainees.
Be a part of achieving the Duke Surgery mission.
