Surgery

Niels D. Martin, MD, FACS, FCCM

Surgery

Vice Chair for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity

The role of the Vice Chair of Diversity & Inclusion in the Department of Surgery is to advance diversity, inclusion, and anti-discrimination in the department broadly.  The specific focus of the Vice Chair is in the recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty and staff, promotion of the foundational values of an inclusive culture, and ensuring health equity for the population we serve.

The Vice Chair also serves as the Diversity Search Advisor for the department, ensuring broad consideration of potential faculty candidates.  Also, in recognizing the pipeline to faculty recruitment that our training programs play, the Vice Chair also works closely with house-staff recruitment, including ensuring a holistic review of all applicants.  The Vice Chair also captures data & metrics of the department and provides reports to its leadership.

The Vice Chair has representation on several vital committees within the department, ensuring recognition of any unconscious biases that may exist.  The Vice Chair currents sits on the Department’s executive committee, the Committee On Appointments and Promotions (COAP), the Department’s Awards committee, and is a member of the Division of Surgical Education as well. 

The Department of Surgery also recognizes the importance of collaboration with both local and extra-mural stakeholders.  Alignment with the School of Medicine’s office of Diversity & Inclusion will bring broader resources.  Supporting pipeline programs such as the Alliance for Minority Physicians (AMP) is also essential.  The Center for Surgical Health is a new initiative that supports health equity for surgical patients and is an important collaboration of the Vice Chair.  More broadly, ensuring the department has representation in societies such as the Association of Women Surgeons, the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons, and the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, to name a few, are also important components of the Vice Chair’s role.