Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

University of Virginia Collage with Surgery Department Doctors

Message from the Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Adanna Akujuo, MD

Welcome to the Department of Surgery at UVA Health.

As Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), I am honored to lead our department’s efforts to create a welcoming and equitable environment for all. At the heart of our mission is the belief that diversity strengthens innovation, equity drives excellence, and inclusion fosters the kind of collaboration necessary to achieve the best outcomes for our patients, trainees, and colleagues.

Our department is deeply committed to addressing disparities in healthcare and promoting equity in surgical education and leadership. Through recruitment, mentorship, and development programs, we aim to cultivate a surgical community that reflects the diverse patients we serve. We work collaboratively to ensure that every member of our team, regardless of background, feels valued and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents.

In partnership with our institutional and community stakeholders, we are implementing initiatives to eliminate barriers to care, address systemic inequities, and improve health outcomes for historically underserved populations and all of our patients. Our work is driven by the understanding that eliminating barriers in medicine is not just a professional responsibility—it is a moral imperative.

I invite you to join us in this important work. Whether you are a patient, a student, a faculty member, or a community partner, your voice and perspective are vital to our shared mission. Together, we can shape the future of surgery and healthcare to ensure that it is innovative, fair, and accessible to all.

Thank you for visiting our website, and I encourage you to explore the resources and initiatives we have to offer.

Warm regards,
Adanna C. Akujuo, MD
Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Department of Surgery, UVA Health

Explore DEI Initiatives and Resources

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Highlights

HCDI Leadership affiliated with the Department of Surgery:

Chioma Moneme, MD, MBA – Co-President, 2023-2024 (general surgery resident)
Anthony Norman, MD – Co-President, 2023-2024 (general surgery resident)
Perry Bradford, MD – Vice President, 2022-2023 (integrated plastic surgery resident)
Erik Scott, MD – President, 2022-2023 (integrated cardiothoracic surgery resident)
Markie Fleming II, MD – President, 2017-2020 (general surgery resident)
Allison Martin, MD, MPH – Treasurer, 2017-2019 (general surgery resident)

2024: Sixth Annual Trainee Diversity and Inclusion Conference Focuses on Housing Insecurity and Health

2022: Inaugural Department of Surgery Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Resident Scholarship awarded

2021: D&I Council Working Group recommendations completed

2020: D&I Council organizes four working groups in education, policy, research, and professional development to develop anti-racism policies and programs and to foster an inclusive environment for the department.

2020: Department of Surgery Diversity & Inclusion Council launched The department’s Diversity & Inclusion Council is open to all faculty and residents.

2020: Visiting Professorship for General Surgery Residency Alumni, as mid-level faculty, established

2018: Trainee Diversity & Inclusion Conference launched by Surgery residents Drs. Allison Martin and Markie Fleming, now an annual conference organized by HCDI

2018: Visiting 4th year medical student scholarship in Surgery established Visiting Fourth Year Scholarship – UVA Department of Surgery (virginia.edu)

2017: Department of Surgery Diversity & Inclusion Plan written, outlining goals, strategies and success metrics relevant to DEI

2017: Surgery residents co-found Housestaff Council on Diversity & Inclusion (HCDI)

HCDI works with residents from other departments and provides a council where residents from diverse backgrounds can fellowship and develop DEI initiatives that improve recruitment and foster a supportive training environment. Diversity & Inclusion – Graduate Medical Education

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Diversity & Inclusion Council

The Diversity & Inclusion Council Mission:

Define and collect key performance metrics to identify targets for positive change.
Assist in development and evaluation of diversity & inclusion initiatives.

Examples of our work:

Targets for Positive Change: After reviewing our invited visiting speakers over a 5-year period, we created a mechanism for ensuring diversity in our speakers, surgical specialties, and presentation topics.
Annual Visiting Professorship: This Visiting Professorship was established for Alumni of our General Surgery Residency Program who are currently mid-career academic surgeons. Invitations for visiting professorships are particularly impactful mid-career, a time when academic faculty are establishing their national reputations. Through this visiting professorship, we demonstrate our longitudinal support for the professional development of our former residents and learn more about the impressive accomplishments of our trainees after graduation!
We are honored to welcome the following alumni back for our Annual Visiting Professorship:
- 2024: Damien LaPar, MD; Associate Professor, UT Health Houston Children’s Heart Institute “Surgical Innovation and Scientific Advances in Therapy of Complex Congenital Heart Disease”
- 2023: Laura Rosenberger, MD; Associate Professor, Duke University “Hearing Hoofbeats, Herding Zebras: Unique Research Strategies to Study Rare Phyllodes Tumors”
- 2022: Amber Shada, MD; Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin “The Future is Now. How Do We Get There?”
- 2021: Sara Hennessy, MD; Associate Professor, University of Texas Southwestern “The Value of Empathy: a Surgeon’s Experience on the Other Side of Medicine”
- 2020: Paris Butler, MD MPH; Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania “Enhancing Ethnic Diversity in Academic Surgery: Making the Quality and Excellence Argument”
Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives: The four D&I Council Working Groups in Education, Research, Policy, and Professional Development issued recommendations for the department to develop anti-racism policies and programs and to foster an inclusive environment. Each working group was co-led by a resident and faculty member and benefitted from broad participation. Many of the recommendations have been implemented by the department.

The D&I Council is led by Adanna Akujuo, MD. The department’s Diversity & Inclusion Council is open to all faculty and residents.

Lectures

The department places an emphasis on DEI topics in our Grand Rounds schedule.

Upcoming: Jaya Aysola, MD, DTMH, MPH, Associate Professor, Executive Director of Center for Health Equity Advancement at the University of Pennsylvania (February 22, 2025)
Zeyad Sahli, MD, “Equalizing Opportunity: International Medical Graduates in US Healthcare” (March 27, 2024)
Mark Fleming, MD, “My Surgical Giants: If I Could Walk a Mile” (January 17, 2024)
Edward Barksdale, Jr., MD, “Beyond the Horizon: A New Paradigm for Surgery” (January 24, 2024)
Libby Weaver, MD, “Gender Differences in Assessment, Autonomy, Environment, and Experiences of Surgical Trainees” (September 20, 2023)
Susan Kirk, MD and Panel, “Multidisciplinary Care of the Transgender Patient” (March 2, 2022)
Arturo Saavedra, MD, “Social Determinants of Health: Fact or Fiction” (January 12, 2022)
Tracy Downs, MD, “Training the Next Generation: Can We Increase Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Graduate Medical Education Training Programs” (September 15, 2021)
Ebony Hilton, MD, “The Intersectionality of Pandemic and Protest: the Shared Vein of Systemic Racism” (September 23, 2020)
Preston Reynolds, MD, “Race Science and Eugenics at UVA” (September 16, 2020)
Paris Butler, MD, “Enhancing Ethnic Diversity in Academic Surgery: Making the Quality and Excellence Argument” (February 5, 2020)
Sharon Stein, MD, “Diversity in Surgery” (September 18, 2019)
Caprice Greenberg, MD, “Sticky Floors and Glass Ceilings” (September 12, 2018)
Crystal Johnson-Mann, MD, “Gender and Racial Diversity in Surgery: a Work in Progress” (June 13, 2018)
Kirt von Daake, PhD, “Slavery, Race, and Medical Education at UVA in the 19th Century” (January 31, 2018)
Megan Tracci, MD, “What Are We Missing Here? The Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Outcomes, Federal Programs and Care” (September 27, 2017)
Anneke Schroen, MD and Michael Williams, MD “I’m Not Biased…am I? Lessons in Implicit Bias” (January 27, 2016)

Funding Opportunities

Society Travel and Membership Support for Residents
Travel and membership support available to professional organizations that provide important sources of mentorship, networking, and career development opportunities for general surgery residents from groups traditionally underrepresented in medicine. Residents will have sponsored annual membership to the following organizations: Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS), Latino Surgical Society (LSS), Society of Asian Academic Surgeons (SAAS) and the Association of Out Surgeons and Allies (AOSA). Eligible categorical residents will have paid travel to attend the annual conference of one of the organizations listed above twice during residency, once as a junior (PGY 1 through – Research) and once as a senior resident (PGY 3 and above). For senior residents to have paid travel, they must participate in the meeting either by abstract submission or committee involvement. We welcome the opportunity to support active participation in other professional organizations promoting DEI in Surgery.

URiM Leadership Program and Travel Scholarship Diversity & Inclusion – Graduate Medical Education Scholarship available to visiting 4th year medical students accepted into elective rotations at UVA (July –October) who are either part of a group underrepresented in medicine or strongly interested in DEI work. This program includes a special leadership program in addition to the clinical elective and provides a $1500 travel stipend.

Department of Surgery Visiting Student Elective Scholarship available to visiting 4th year medical students accepted into an elective rotation at UVA Surgery and who are part of a group underrepresented in medicine.

Department of Surgery Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Resident Scholarship
This two-year scholarship provides support for work on DEI initiatives to a resident in the Department of Surgery. Eligible residents have or will serve at least two years of training in general surgery or the integrated program in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Virginia. Applicants should be committed to enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion in surgery through service, leadership, education, research, and/or other innovative initiatives. The successful applicant will be expected to develop and/or enhance, and lead, solution-oriented work on a departmental or institutional level that is focused on actively fostering a culture of inclusiveness, diversity, and equity in our workplace and/or the greater Charlottesville community. The Scholarship provides a $2,500 stipend per awardee divided over two years. The Scholarship may be awarded to one junior (PGY 1-2) and one senior (PGY 3-5) resident (research years will count as junior) every two years or staggered, with up to two active scholarships at any given time. At the completion of the two-year award, a report to the Department of Surgery of completed work and its impact is required.

Department of Surgery Research Funding in DEI
Each year the department supports faculty-led research projects. With future calls for research proposals, we will be offering an annual award for a faculty-led project in clinical outcomes and/or health services research studying social determinants of health, racial/ethnic disparities in health or healthcare delivery, and/or the effects of racism on health and society. This research grant will be valued up to $20,000.

We will begin accepting applications in January 2025.

Community Engagement

The department is committed to participating in pathway programs into science and medicine, supporting local youth from groups underrepresented in medicine.

During the pandemic, the department contributed to the Charlottesville City Schools iSTEM program by helping create and distribute in-home STEM teaching kits to elementary school children missing access to in-classroom teaching activities.

Surgery is a departmental sponsor for the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Summer Opportunities in Academic Research (SOAR) program. SOAR seeks to encourage local high school students of color to pursue careers in science by offering a summer program in biomedical research and clinical medicine exposure.

The department participates in the Summer Medical Leadership Program (SMLP), providing shadowing experiences for undergraduate students from underrepresented groups and disadvantaged backgrounds interested in pursuing careers in medicine.

Food Insecurity in the Community: Dr. Jeffrey Gander, a pediatric surgeon in the UVA Department of Surgery and his partners in the Department of Pediatrics are working to tackle food insecurity in the community. When children come to a clinic visit at UVA Children’s, their families are screened for food insecurity. If interested, they are offered non-perishable food items for the Battle Building Healthy Food Pantry to take home that day. For patients who live in the Charlottesville or Albemarle County area, they can join a fresh fruit and vegetable program. UVA has partnered with a not for profit Local Food Hub to deliver a bi-weekly share of fresh food to the house of our patients with food insecurity. The food comes from local Virginia farmers. Dr. Gander recently received a large grant from the USDA to study the effect on health outcomes of the fresh food program. Pediatric Team Bringing Fresh, Healthy Food to Those in Need | UVA Today

City of Promise: UVA Surgery has partnered with City of Promise to provide K-12 students with an exciting opportunity for immersive, hands-on learning and medical career exploration. City of Promise is a Charlottesville-based organization committed to eliminating generational poverty through coaching, mentoring, tutoring, and goal-setting for underserved children in the community. As part of the organization’s annual “Tour of the Town” program, students visit various local institutions to learn about potential career options for the future. This past year, the students visited the Simulation Center where they had a chance to interact with the OR simulation mannikin and learn how to prepare patients for surgery. They also got hands-on practice intubating and using ultrasound machines to identify organs. The rest of the day was spent touring the perioperative surgical home, interacting with the multi-disciplinary OR family, learning about the paths to different careers in Periop, and practicing “gowning up” for sterile procedures. They rounded out the day with a visit to an outpatient clinic.

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Awards

Erik Scott, MD (left) and Bridgette Love, MD (right)

2024: Resident Erik Scott, MD & Colleague Awarded ACGME Back to Bedside Award
UVA Surgery resident Erik Scott, MD and Anesthesiology resident, Dr. Bridgette Love, recently received a Back to Bedside Project award from the national Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The pair was awarded a $15,000 grant in summer 2024 to lead the UVA Anesthesiology and Surgery Spanish Perioperative Augmentation Initiative (SPAIN). This initiative seeks to improve the perioperative experience for Spanish-speaking patients by providing Spanish-language training and certification for residents in multiple programs throughout UVA Health. This competitive national funding opportunity, given to only 30 resident/fellow teams per cycle, is a remarkable way to celebrate and support innovative ideas across the country that have the potential to enhance the clinical experience and allow physicians to connect more fully with their patients and colleagues. Their cross-departmental collaboration is very impressive, as is the program that they developed that will lead to more culturally sensitive care for our patients.

Courtney Lattimore, MD

Chioma Moneme, MD

2024: Courtney Lattimore, MD and Chioma Moneme, MD Nominated for Women Who Inspire Inclusion Awards in Honor of Women’s History Month

Courtney Lattimore, MD and Chioma Moneme, MD demonstrate an outstanding commitment to making UVA an equitable space for all people. Dr. Lattimore received a nomination for her continual pursuit of equitable patient care: “Dr. Lattimore leads by example. She actively seeks out opportunities to amplify underrepresented voices in medicine and ensure that all patients receive the highest standard of care…” Dr. Moneme, who serves as the GME House Staff Council for Diversity and Inclusion Co-President was nominated for her advocacy for diversity in medicine: “Chioma is a mentor and a recognized leader possessed of high moral values and integrity, who, in all of her activities and interactions, seeks to identify structural barriers that contribute to inequity and works to dismantle those.”

Mark Fleming II, MD (left) with HCDI Co-Presidents, Drs. Anothony Norman and Chioma Moneme.

2024: Mark Fleming II, MD, Honored with Inaugural Eponymous Mark A. Fleming, II, MD Award

Mark Fleming II, MD, was honored with the inaugural eponymous Mark A. Fleming, II, MD Award, which recognizes advocacy and advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in Graduate Medical Education. Dr. Fleming is the co-founder of the Housestaff Council for Diversity & Inclusion (HCDI).

Gabrielle Steinl, MD

2024: Gabrielle Steinl, MD Named Recipient of the Department of Surgery Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Resident Scholarship
Dr. Steinl will be focusing on a healthcare career pathway program for local Charlottesville students through City of Promise.

Mark Fleming, II, MD

2021: Markie Fleming, II, MD MS, Martin Luther King Jr. Health System Award

Established in 2013, Dr. Martin Luther King University of Virginia Health System Award is presented annually to a student, faculty or staff member of the Health System who embodies Dr. Martin Luther King’s values and teachings, in cultural competence, health care disparities, or fostering an environment of inclusiveness, in accordance with the institution’s mission and values.

Mark Fleming, II, MD

Courtney Lattimore, MD

Markie Fleming, II, MD MS and Courtney Lattimore, MD: Inaugural recipients of Department of Surgery Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Resident Scholarship

Over this 2-year scholarship, Drs. Fleming and Lattimore will focus on improving the 4th year medical student experience on Surgery, with special emphasis on students visiting UVA and students from historically underrepresented groups.

Anneke Schroen, MD

2020: Anneke Schroen, MD, MPH: Sharon L. Hostler Women in Medicine Leadership Award
The Hostler Award recognizes excellence in several of the following areas: clinical care, teaching, scholarship, mentoring, research, leadership, community service, commitment to continuous learning, and exerting influence in fostering a better institutional environment by advocating for women’s issues.

Sandra Kabagambe, MD

University of Virginia Goldaracena, MD, Surgery

Nicolas Goldaracena, MD

Department of Surgery Faculty Selected for Participation in iDRIV (Inspiring Diverse Researchers in Virginia)

Designed to support researchers who are nationally underrepresented in clinical or translational science, the year-long iDRIV program iDRIV Program | integrated Translati (ithriv.org) augments early career faculty development through education, coaching, mentorship and sponsorship.

Ileana Mauldin, PhD

Lily
Cheng,
MD

iDRIV Scholars from the Department of Surgery:
Sandra Kabagambe, MD (2021-22)
Nicolas Goldaracena, MD (2021-22)
Paola Vargas, MD (2021-22)
Ileana Mauldin, PhD (2022-23)
Lily Cheng, MD (2023-24)

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