Petition for an ACEP Section of Membership
I, the undersigned, petition ACEP to establish a Section on Minority Affairs and Diversity in Emergency Medicine.
The Board of Directors has established annual section dues at $40 per section for regular members. Medical students, emergency medicine resident members and individuals in fellowship training programs receive free membership in the Young Physicians Section, may join another section of their choice for free and join additional sections for only $20 each.
I, the undersigned, realize that by filling out this form, I am indicating my intent to become a dues-paying member of the Minority Affairs and Diversity in Emergency Medicine section in addition to my regular ACEP dues.
The ACEP Bylaws require 100 or more College members to petition the Board of Directors to form a section.
Prospective Section Objectives
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- To inform and support members interested in minority physician challenges, healthcare issues related to minorities and other related professional concerns.
- To promote diversity in the College and its leadership.
- To promote recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority physicians within the specialty of emergency medicine.
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Subject Area
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The section is being created to provide a forum whereby physician members interested in minority affairs and diversity will have an opportunity to address those issues that affect the daily practice of emergency medicine and the barriers that prevent diversity within the College. The section will explore ways to overcome these barriers and support minority interest in College leadership. The section will address issues of professional development, provide a forum for networking and establish a process for enhancing mentorship of minority emergency medicine residents and medical students. The section will provide support for young minority physicians as they transition from student/resident to attending. The section will seek to raise awareness within the field of emergency medicine on the importance of minorities and gender, on the delivery of emergency care and will assist in the integration of gender and minority concepts into College policies. Members of the section will be available to assist the Board and Committees on advocacy and issues facing the College by providing important perspective. |
Furthering the College
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College President Rebecca Parker has made the issue of diversity and inclusion a cornerstone of her presidency. This section would help to promote this goal by acting as a resource and forum for interested parties to collaborate and coordinate such efforts. The Leadership and Development Advisory Group (LDAG) has identified the lack of minority physician participation at multiple levels within the College and its leadership. It is anticipated that with such a College section we would hope to develop future leaders of diversity, choose a councillor and mentor physicians early in their careers toward future leadership. |
Proposed First Year Activities
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- The initial activity will be to get the word out about the section via traditional and innovative means including ACEP promotional materials, the daily briefing, at conferences, and Annals of EM. These issues and the section should have a visible presence at Leadership and Advocacy Conference in March 2017 and next year in DC at the Scientific Assembly. We also believe ED staffing companies would be interested in participating, for example CEP has for the past several years sponsored an informal gathering during SA addressing minority issues and recruiting physicians. Efforts to expand this gathering in cooperation with the section meeting with perhaps co-sponsorship from a variety of groups including CEP may be possible.
- The next activity will be to identify Section leadership, develop a plan for continuing the relevance of the section and activities to continue to create interest. The Section will explore College resources which may be available to attract and retain interest in the section, for example a Section Grant.
- Finally, a formal liaison with EMRA should be established to begin to reach medical students and resident members interested in the objectives of the section and support them during those difficult years of transition and intense learning.
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Petition Originator:
Ramon W. Johnson, MD, FACEP