Principles of EDI

In 2020, the Division agreed upon the following principles with the aim of creating an intentional and authentic community that embraces equity, diversity, and inclusion for its faculty, trainees, staff, patients, and research participants. By articulating these principles, the Division commits to proactively foster equity rather than taking reactive steps after a failure.

• The Division commits to creating a welcoming environment for patients, families, research participants, staff, trainees, and faculty that:
  • promotes awareness, appreciation, and acceptance;
  • celebrates different cultures, beliefs, and ideas;
  • treats people with respect and dignity;
  • values individual differences;
  • appropriately acknowledges contributions by all, and
  • actively helps each other succeed.

• The Division of Geriatrics provides assistance to eliminate any unfair or inappropriate barriers to ensure equity in opportunity and support to meet performance expectations that are determined by the person’s role.

• The Division of Geriatrics recognizes and supports constructive disagreements as they can foster supportive and collegial relationships unless a position is rooted in the oppression or denigration of a person’s identity.

• The Division promotes a culture of active listening and empathy in clinical and non-clinical activities.  

• All faculty, trainees, and staff must recognize that some geriatrics patients and/or research participants may have experienced a lifetime of inequity and consider this when providing their care or interacting with them in the context of their participation in research activities.

• Understanding and consideration of a patient’s/research participant’s identity and values is a part of every clinical and/or research encounter.

• Implementation of these principles is everyone’s

• The Division also encourages the participation of staff, trainees, and faculty in complementary initiatives to promote EDI.

In support of these principles

• The Division will periodically review all activities to ensure that these continually promote EDI, including identifying opportunities for improvement.
• The Division will put a mechanism in place for patients, research participants, trainees, staff, and faculty to raise general and system-level EDI issues. Issues about specific individual faculty or staff should be referred to academic affairs or human resources, as appropriate.
• The Division commits to promoting ongoing education both at the individual and Division level.