In 2018, members of the Pediatric Resident and Fellow Diversity & Inclusion Committee wanted to reach out to the URiM applicants to express their welcome and discuss all that our residency had to offer. During the first years, the program met in the rec room of one of the fellows with food donated for brunch by the Department and libations donated by faculty. It was an intimate gathering of applicants, residents and faculty. Two years ago, we were happy to extend our community to applicants from Internal Medicine, Med-Peds, Family Medicine and Psychiatry.
This past year, due to COVID, the in-person get together went virtual and we expanded even further to include 17 departments. Over the course of five Sunday afternoons, 200 faculty, residents and fellows hosted over 400 applicants in community to discuss the amazing opportunities for education, research and community here in Pittsburgh.
Additionally, as one of our strengths is full transparency, we also discussed the challenges faced by our communities of color and applicants were able to hear from Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, FSAHM and Val Chavis, Administrator, Service and Outreach Coordinator at the Center for Parents and Children and former co-director of The Pittsburgh Study who now serves as community liaison at The Pittsburgh Study core team, about how UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is working with the city and communities of color to affect positive change.
With the success of the virtual brunches for URiM residency applicants, the program directors for fellowships in the Department of Pediatrics hosted the first ever Virtual Brunch for URiM fellowship applicants. The brunch hosted over 30 applicants with 54 faculty. Planning will start soon to repeat and expand this opportunity to show the strengths of our fellowship programs.