GOAL 1: Cultivate a welcoming environment where differences are embraced, valued, and respected.
STRATEGY 1.1: Develop and implement a climate survey to assess perceptions of inclusion and belonging within the Society and repeat the assessment after implementing bias reduction strategies.
STRATEGY 1.2: Develop a National Advisory Committee (NAC), and provide support to current mentorship programs, to encourage engagement of underrepresented groups.
Action 1.2.1: Develop a PIDS National Advisory Committee (NAC) as part of a program targeting young scholars (residents, fellows, junior faculty) who identify as underrepresented in medicine (URM), disabled, or from a socially, culturally, economically, or educationally disadvantaged background, and who are committed to a career in pediatric infectious diseases.
Action 1.2.2: Engage the IDWeek Mentorship Program committee to support their incorporation of IDA&E principles.
Action 1.2.3: Encourage underrepresented members to be mentors, in addition to mentees, at all levels including advanced medical providers (e.g. nurse practitioners, physician assistants), pharmacists, and their respective trainees.
Action 1.2.4: Collaborate with minority medical and medical student associations to provide mentorship and training opportunities in pediatric infectious diseases.
STRATEGY 1.3: Encourage and support affinity/networking groups in line with IDA&E goals.
Action 1.3.1: Provide meeting venues as feasible.
Action 1.3.2: Share links to community contacts on website and communicate networking opportunities to membership.
STRATEGY 1.4: Educate and provide resources to advance the principles of inclusion, diversity, access and equity to the membership and the broader ID communities, including but not limited to hospitals (rural and urban), academic institutions, research labs and private practices (rural and urban).
Action 1.4.1: Develop toolkits with best practice data for implementing IDA&E programs and initiatives that can be shared to leaders.
Action 1.4.2: Offer trainings on inclusion, diversity, access and equity. Topics may include, but are not limited to, unconscious bias and how to mitigate; anti-racism training; emotional intelligence; helpful bystander/ally; why inclusion, diversity, access and equity are important and how they affect the patient. Education could be offered through online interactive modules via micro-learnings offering certificates. Education to be offered during annual meeting (IDWeek) or PIDS-specific meetings (e.g. PIDS-St. Jude Research Conference).
Action 1.4.3: Develop and maintain online resources (books, journal articles, videos, links to vetted websites, etc.) prominently displayed on the PIDS website and available to all PIDS community
Action 1.4.4: Audit PIDS’ communications (messaging, images, publications, titles, etc.) to ensure they align with principles.
Action 1.4.5: Provide a mechanism by which membership can anonymously report actions that go against IDA&E values or concerns regarding publications/communications containing racist or discriminatory language
Action 1.4.6: Require training (including unconscious bias) for individual Committee Chairs and Board members; revisit concepts annually and determine which other populations should undergo training.
Action 1.4.7: Encourage leaders in our community to participate in trainings.
Action 1.4.8: Implement best practices for curriculum development and delivery.
STRATEGY 1.5: Communicate PIDS’ inclusion, diversity, access and equity work to the membership community.
Action 1.5.1: Provide regular updates from the President, CEO and other leaders on progress and future endeavors (this will require reflection and assessment).
Action 1.5.2: Use varied media platforms and communications strategies, such as vignettes and cases studies. Platforms may include, but are not limited to:
• Emails to the membership
• Website and blog posts
• Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
• Facebook Live events
• JID, CID, OFID, JPIDS
Action 1.5.3: Ensure organizational efforts are visible at PIDS events.
Action 1.5.4: Add IDA&E tagline to select communications.
GOAL 2: Ensure that processes, policies, and practices foster fairness, belonging, equity, and reflect the views and values of our Society.
STRATEGY 2.1: Ensure that the principles of IDA&E are included, measured, and shared at all levels of the organization in a timely manner.
Action 2.1.1: Include IDA&E characteristics as “ideal” for all volunteer leadership positions
Action 2.1.2: Assess working knowledge of IDA&E principles for volunteer applicants
GOAL 3: Guarantee transparency to promote fair treatment and access to opportunities for all members within all levels of the organization.
STRATEGY 3.1: Ensure opportunities for diverse representation across all levels of the Society including leadership roles and committee membership.
Action 3.1.1: Create a repository where photos and names of committee members are available on the website as a snapshot of the diversity of our committees.
Action 3.1.2: Research and implement leadership, governance and bylaw practices that align with values.
- Weigh elected versus appointed positions
- Outline all volunteer and selection (i.e. awards, FPIDS) opportunities and conduct a review of criteria/desired competencies and selection process to implement best practices
- Track candidate pools, slate and selection results
- Use a rubric to establish targets for leadership composition. Encourage participation from those in early career stage, various practice settings, etc.
- Ensure recruitment and selection messages outline our IDA&E interests
- Formally engage volunteers in networking and pipeline development activities and to help publicize IDA&E efforts
- Promote pipeline, mentorship, and career development activities
- Promote or arrange networking events among affinity groups
- Identify inclusion tactics to increase comfort level for typically under-represented populations
- Include a trainee (fellow-in-training, junior faculty, other) on each committee (including the LDC) as “junior councilor/member”
- Include advanced medical providers (NPs, PAs) and their trainees as appropriate
- Work with Fellows Subcommittee to develop potentials
- Provide education on selection and election process (including FAQ guide) and address concerns or perceived barriers
- Circulate calls for volunteers broadly; use emails, social media, websites, PIDSConnect, announcements during committee meetings, IDA&E designees and volunteer communications group. Ask Program Directors to share with Fellows and share updates with PIDS Fellows.
- Send post to fellows and various target populations
- Profile underrepresented parties that serve on committees; share success stories
- Highlight/emphasize IDA&E topics and/or speakers representing diverse groups at PIDS-sponsored meetings and events (IDWeek, the PIDS stewardship meeting, St. Jude Research, etc.)
Action 3.1.3: Identify and recruit individuals with diverse and innovative ideas and areas of expertise into the Society and all levels of the organization. Target recruitment messages by demographic/affinity and send personalized message from community member or leader.
Action 3.1.4: Develop a matrix of qualities to ensure representation across all aspects of the Society’s leadership, membership and volunteer structure.
STRATEGY 3.2: Publish criteria needed for members to move through leadership in the Society and inclusion of a commitment to concepts surrounding IDA&E.
STRATEGY 3.3: Develop opportunities to learn about cultural humility, unconscious bias, and ways to mitigate it.
Action 3.3.1: PIDS will provide combined learning opportunities for the BOD and all committee chairs, prior to choosing awardees and leaders.
Action 3.3.2: PIDS will develop a plan to help professional training programs understand unconscious bias and ways to mitigate it. (Fellowship leaders need to be included. Note to broaden here – “professional training programs” is limiting.)
- PIDS to create/provide professional training programs to share, to include unconscious bias training as an example.
- Offer an option for training to fellowship leaders on IDA&E principles.
- Target training program leaders. Ensure future ID specialists have participated in these trainings.
GOAL 4: Collect and share data to inform and educate the PIDS community and IDA&E initiatives.
STRATEGY 4.1: Collect, review and publish data to help advance IDA&E goals; develop timetable for collection given desired impact with built-in benchmarks, including but not limited to the following:
- All axes of PIDS member diversity: gender, race/ethnicity, disability, immigrant or child of an immigrant family, and geographic
- Compensation (including data collection via member surveys in addition to other groups who collect this data)
- Editorial boards, journal reviewers, journal authorships
- PIDS committees and Board of Directors (including PIDS Staff)
- PIDS Foundation funding and scholarship awardees
- PIDS Awards, lectureships
- IDWeek oral presentations, awards, and planning committee
- LGBTQ member demographics
- Cultural competence & impact
- Career path within the specialty (microbiologist, clinician, pharmacist, advanced medical providers etc.)
- National origin (e.g. US versus international medical graduates)
Action 4.1.1: Share activities and updates with state and regional societies
STRATEGY 4.2: Research/explore how people enter the field and identify opportunities to address access-related barriers and recruit more people into the field of all backgrounds.
Action 4.2.1: Improve presence minority medical and medical student associations (e.g. NHMA, LMSA, NMA, SNMA, AAIP, ANAMS), national conferences (e.g. ABRCMS, SACNAS), and social channels to increase interest of underrepresented groups in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
STRATEGY 4.3: Develop key metrics to which PIDS will hold itself accountable around inclusion, diversity, access and equity.
- Engage PIDS Foundation to pursue funding for IDA&E efforts