Read more about our efforts to support community engagement and inclusive excellence in the department of medicine.
June 2025 Newsletter
Message from Leadership:
As we step into summer, we find ourselves in a season of reflection on both the challenges impacting health research and the momentum building from our department's strategic plan, which is leading us to build on our strengths and deepen our impact across our missions. Across the UCLA Department of Medicine (DoM) and through our clinical partnerships, we witness meaningful efforts to advance patient-centered care, build stronger collaborations, and support the well-being of our teams.
Amid shifting national conversations and evolving policy landscapes, our focus remains clear - delivering high-quality, accessible care that meets people where they are. Whether through our regional partnerships, faculty development, or staff engagement programs, we are reminded that the strength of our system lies in the relationships we build and the values we uphold every day.
This year, the DoM Office of Community Engagement and Inclusive Excellence (CEIE) has centered its efforts to advance our DoM strategic plan around practical solutions to build an even stronger internal community while continuing to expand our external safety-net partnerships. To this end, we are reconnecting with our clinic partners through clinical regional lunches, supporting creative faculty-led initiatives through small grants, and encouraging open dialogue about how together we can do better.
Our work through the DoM Strategic Plan isn’t about buzzwords or mandates. It’s about listening, showing up, delivering care, conducting research, and providing education with purpose and integrity. We thank everyone for continuing to model that spirit across your teams and communities.
As always, we welcome your feedback, collaboration, and ideas as we refine the community engagement pillar of our DoM Strategic Plan over the upcoming months.
"Consider the rights of others before your own feelings.
Consider the feelings of others before your own rights."
- Late UCLA Bruin Coach John Wooden
January 2025 Newsletter
Message from Leadership:
Welcome to a new year for the UCLA Department of Medicine. A year that begins with mixed emotions. We just finished celebrating many of our winter season traditions that often renew our spirit in the new year. We also honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and continue to work to achieve his vision for more perfect union which recognizes the tapestry of diverse backgrounds and values that bind us. However, the recent Los Angeles fires have devastated our UCLA community. The fire displaced many of our faculty, staff, trainees, families, friends, and others who represent the soul of our city and UCLA community.
At the heart of the UCLA Department of Medicine's EDI Office, we are committed to guiding the DoM in our mission to advance health for all. We help ensure that we are providing equitable, high quality care to all regardless of their socioeconomic status, while also fostering an inclusive environment where our colleagues are inspired and supported to achieve their best. Unfortunately, we have seen many of our patients and colleagues lose so much to the fires. Nevertheless, amid this tragedy, we are moved by the coalescence of support within the DoM for those in need.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day we hosted the seventh annual "On Equity" story slam where seven faculty provided inspiring stories of patients struggling with some of the many barriers in healthcare and society that prevent them from achieving optimal health. Each story highlighted the creativity, humanity, compassion and extra steps so many take to ensure equity and justice for their patients, actions that demonstrate our department's values.
As we all work to ensure each patient receives our very best, we are now called upon to continue that same energy in support of those in DoM who have been impacted by the LA fires.
As part of a speech delivered on January 7, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. offered these profound words on the disparity between those who have more and those who have less,
“I don't want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be.”
May we call upon the spirit in this message as we extend support to our patients and colleagues in need - so they can once again become all they ought to be and in doing so we can each become all we ought to be.
October 2024 Newsletter
Message from Leadership:
Some of our recent initiatives include the launch of Small Project Funds to support divisional EDI activities, hosting resident workshops on essential topics such as microaggressions, social determinants of health, and advocacy, as well as fostering staff engagement through our monthly LINK (Leaning Into New Knowledge) meetings and bi-weekly Lunch and Learns. Our partnerships with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Safety Net Health Systems, to expand healthcare access in underserved communities and increase opportunities for our faculty to care for those with less, continue to grow.
Despite our challenges, including resistance to EDI/DEI efforts across the country, we are resolute in our commitment to advancing equity in all aspects of our work. New initiatives, such as Women in Medicine events, staff affinity groups, and a developing volunteer program, further reflect our dedication to community engagement and support. We encourage everyone in the department to participate in these initiatives and share their successes. Together, we can continue to build a culture of equity and inclusive excellence that benefits our department, our patients, and our communities.
Thank you for your continued dedication to this vital work. In the words of Albert Einstein, which we’ll explore more in our next newsletter, may you ‘widen your circle of compassion’ each day.
“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein"