Meet the team
The Office of DEI is expanding to meet the college’s needs. The team has been working together since March 1. In addition to Shirley Delair, MD, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, the office includes:
Nada Fadul, MD, assistant dean of DEI education programs
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Nada Fadul, MD |
Dr. Fadul will support the DEI office in integrating concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion into the curriculum of both undergraduate and graduate medical education. She will work on developing evaluations for both instructors and trainees to monitor effectiveness of teaching. She will also work on developing workshop to assist instructors in enhancing their current lectures to address DEI.
Armando De Alba, MD, assistant dean of DEI student programs
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Armando De Alba, MD |
Dr. De Alba will support the DEI office in its collaboration with the admissions office in recommending strategies to recruit a diverse pool of medical students that reflect the population of our state. He will also work on policies and procedures to foster an inclusive climate at the college for students. Dr. De Alba will help develop service-learning opportunities allowing students to strive for inclusive excellence that will benefit underserved and marginalized communities by providing training on best practices in community engagement and advocacy.
Liliana Bronner, director of medical pathway programs:
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Liliana Bronner |
Bronner will support the DEI office in its collaboration with the admissions office in leveraging current pre-medical pathway programs — such as the Rural Health Opportunities Program, the Urban Health Opportunities Program and the Kearney Health Opportunities Program in the recruitment and retention of students underrepresented in medicine. She will help develop alternative pathways to medicine programs to improve student diversity at the college, as well as establishing and managing program metrics for current programs and developing a dashboard specifically to monitor efforts to recruit underrepresented students in medicine.
The College of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is committed to assisting students, residents, fellows, faculty and staff of diverse backgrounds that include, but are not limited to, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability status, who have been marginalized.
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In collaboration with the department chairs and the UNMC Office of Inclusion, the COM Office of DEI is working on initiatives including recruitment and retention of trainees, faculty and staff, to create institutional diversity and develop a cadre of leaders, teachers, researchers and clinicians that reflects the diverse communities of our state.
The Office of DEI also is working, along with institutional and community partners, to foster inclusive excellence by embracing diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences to enrich our trainees experience and prepare them for culturally appropriate patient care. The ultimate goal is to improve all of our patients’ outcome, including the historically underserved.
Beginning next month, the COM Office of DEI regularly will use InterCOM as a medium to update the college on our work, provide resources for continued education on DEI, share campus activities that address DEI and comment on local and national events that affect marginalized populations.
One of these terrible events includes the March 16 murder of eight people in Atlanta, Georgia, including six women of Asian descent who were targeted for their race and gender, in what amounts to a hate crime. That same week, in our own city, an elderly Asian man was verbally assaulted with racial slurs and chased while walking in his neighborhood and is now fearing his safety.
These events are occurring in a backdrop of mounting hate targeting the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Racist and xenophobic violence and discrimination are unacceptable. To our AAPI students, residents, fellows, staff, faculty, patients and those in our community who are targeted and impacted by these hateful acts: We stand with you. We support you, and we are committed in our resolve to work to foster an environment that embraces and promotes diversity, acceptance, sense of belonging and of being valued on our campus and in our community. We will be vocal, visible and unwavering allies in the fight against AAPI hate.
If you are struggling with these and other similar events, and need support, you can reach out to any member of the COM DEI Office: Shirley Delair, MD, Nada Fadul, MD, Armando de Alba, MD, or Liliana Bronner, and/or the director of the UNMC Office of Inclusion, Sheritta Strong, MD. If you have experienced/experience or have witnessed/witness acts of racism, xenophobia, discrimination, here is a list of teams to contact in this take A.C.T.I.O.N. flyer. If you want to do more, you can support the national movement #StopAAPIHate.
To learn more about DEI, visit the curated McGoogan Health Sciences Library guide.