February 2021 Update
Greetings,

It’s been a while since we had our last JEDI Newsletter and there have been many changes in the office. We want to recognize Kay Martinez for all of the amazing work developing workshops, supporting the JEDI Fellows, collaborating with OSAS, and spearheading the facilitator training and logistics Power, Privilege, and Positionality. We are so excited for them about their new role as Director of DEI Training, Education, and Development at Lesley University.

We want to welcome Dr. Callie Watkins Liu who joined our office in December as associate director of IHP-ACE and who focuses mainly on teaching and learning at the IHP. Callie has been meeting with many constituency groups and advising about inclusive pedagogical approaches. We are also excited that Lindsey Lo joined our office as a program coordinator earlier last month from OSC. We are currently in the process of hiring an associate director to focus on student affairs and will be working with our colleagues in OSAS and JEDI Fellows on this process. There is a lot of work to do and we are looking forward to having a complete team.

On January 19, 2021, President Milone-Nuzzo shared updates of the progress we have thus made from the goals outlined in the June 29, 2020 email to the IHP community. As Paula mentioned, this is a work in progress as we work toward equity and anti-oppression.

February is Black History Month. Last year, our office hosted a series of events that focused on various aspects of Black History and the present, including a special program on Black self-love and community love. With the transition to less standalone programs and more direct support of departments and offices, we would like to share resources that you can access to learn more during Black History Month and beyond:


While we recognize Black History in February, there is no reason for us not to engage in learning about Black History and contemporary issues 365 days each year. We hope that you can join us in committing to learning and/or engaging in action to support Black individuals and communities. This can include referring to prior learning materials, such as Insight into Identities and asking critical questions about anti-Black racism manifests in health care, health disparities, and classrooms settings, reflecting on our own roles contributing to anti-Black racism, and working toward disrupting anti-Black racism in as health care providers, educators, and learners.

This year, I commit to learning more about historically Black colleges and universities. HBCUs were founded to give access to Black students, though they were open to and still serve all students, during a time when de jure segregation existed, and they still serve all students during a time now when de facto segregation occurs. There is a lot we can learn from HBCUs which represent only 3% of the colleges and universities in the U.S. but produce 20% of Black graduates in higher education. HBCUs also serve and support a large percentage of low-income and first-generation college students (70% of students at HBCUs qualify for federal Pell Grants).

Sincerely,

Kimberly A. Truong, Ph.D.
she/her/hers/they/them/theirs
Executive Director
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)
Social Justice Conference – Submit an Abstract by Monday, February 8

The Office of Justice Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is seeking abstracts from the IHP community (e.g., faculty, staff, students, and alumni) interested in presenting at our inaugural Social Justice Research Conference virtually on Friday, March 26. The Social Justice Research Conference gives us an opportunity to come together as an institution to engage in critical conversations about our collective commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion research. We welcome abstracts from students, alumni, faculty, and staff who would like to share their research as well as receive feedback from attendees. Work that has been presented outside of the IHP or accepted for a conference are welcome. Submit an abstract by Monday, February 8.
Personnel Updates in the JEDI Office
A Welcome Interview with Dr. Callie Watkins Liu

Hi everyone! My name is Kana and I am one of the JEDI Fellows.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Callie Watkins Liu as associate director of IHP-ACE (Anti-Oppression Collaborative in Education) in the Office of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI Office), who started on December 14, 2020. I interviewed Dr. Watkins Liu on January 7, 2021 who kindly shared with me her life, educational, and professional experiences that led her to the IHP.

Dr. Watkins Liu is from Boston, the city she loves. She has also lived all over the world. During the interview, she shared with me that her parents divorced when she was young, which taught her that she does not want anyone to hurt. The core of her work has been around her caring for people who are socially vulnerable.

She was deeply involved with conflict resolution as a high school student. In college where she majored in psychology, Spanish, and Portuguese, she continued her conflict resolution work as a peer mediator. Studying psychology, language, and culture provided her with “breadth and depth to understand human experiences,” to really understand who we are and how we interact.

Upon graduating from college, she moved to Brazil to do conflict resolution work. She helped individuals to resolve conflicts, but she was also a part of resolving conflicts in a larger scale, such as police mass-killing of citizens. This experience made her aware that people’s personal conflicts, such as getting divorced, is really connected to the environment in broader contexts. “All of these environmental factors around you become the norm but actually directly feed into you and your interactions with your surroundings.” She was able to see how policy, culture, and even geography were feeding into that very concrete tangible tragedy that was going on there. She was convinced that she needed to understand the bigger contexts if she wanted to come back in understanding with what was going on with people to help them and how to improve living conditions.

She then completed her master’s degree in city and regional planning, with a focus on international planning (e.g., Latin America, Africa, West Africa, Cape Verde). She was interested in how people build community. She also started to dive into racial analysis more. During her master’s program, she thought “I understand environmental level, but wait, there are policies! Policies set the rules, and set the conditions for the environment, shape our homes” and influence us to act certain ways which relate to her conflict resolution work with individuals nationally and internationally. This realization inspired her to pursue Ph.D. in social policy.

While she was completing her Ph.D., she was more aware that formal government systems, such as legislation and policy, tend to be in the hands of the most powerful; which is another mechanism of inequality. “It comes back to me as justice and those most vulnerable, how do we as a society actually make society better for all of us? And what are the best tools to get us there?” She addressed that many social innovations come from something outside of the formal systems, and they are the ones that take care of those who are most vulnerable (e.g., free breakfast program by the Black Panthers that was then taken over by the U.S. federal government). This is how she is a social movement and intersectionality scholar-activist, and critical race theorist, because she helps people and organizations reveal the system that we are in, which is always centering around the power and inequality, and how to reimagine those systems.

After she completed her Ph.D., she continued to work with international and Boston based community organizations. Additionally, she has been a professor and done consultant working with different organizations in terms of how to advance their racial justice agenda. At IHP, Dr. Watkins Liu will be focusing on capacity building as it relates to teaching and learning about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

“There is momentum, different initiatives, and windows of opportunities @ IHP. We can’t take that for granted. The JEDI Office is building so much; both foundations and growth opportunity, which is exciting. We are able to have this flower blooming! We are talking about something uncomfortable, such as power, inequity, racial justice, gender inequity, because we ultimately want to do something. When there is resistance to even acknowledge these inequities exist, you don’t get to go to the next step. There will be or may have been resistances, but in this moment, we are in a place where we can collaborate on the next step, we can go deeper into this. Let’s understand, digest, unpack, and keep going into the learning.”

Thank you, Dr. Watkins Liu, for allowing us the opportunity to learn about your experiences. We look forward to getting to know you more and learning from/with you! Please reach out to Dr. Watkins Liu for individual faculty and departmental consultations.
New Program Coordinator: Lindsey Lo

Lindsey Lo is the new program coordinator in the JEDI Office. Before working in the JEDI Office, she worked in the Office of Strategic Communications, supporting Power, Privilege, and Positionality planning and participating as a facilitator. As program coordinator, she will take on administrative support responsibilities, communications, and project management. Please reach out to Lindsey for any questions you have about the JEDI Office.
Thank You, Kay!

It is with a mix of sadness and gratitude that we announce the departure of Kay Martinez, M.A., (pronouns: they/them/theirs) as the Associate Director of the JEDI Office effective December 4, 2020.

Kay joined the IHP as the Associate Director of the JEDI Office in February 2020 with over a decade of experience leading JEDI initiatives in higher education including Stanford University, Harvard University, Tufts University, Framingham State University, and the IHP. Since then, they have been instrumental in many new initiatives to move justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts here at the IHP. We want to thank them for their dedicated service to growing our mission which involved many significant accomplishments, including:

  • Rebrand DEI to the Office of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI Office)
  • Formation of the IHP anti-oppression in education collaborative (IHP-ACE)
  • The capacity building with departments, programs, offices, schools, and students through trainings and workshops (including but not limited to: Brave Dialogues, Pronouns 101, LGBTQIA+ Inclusive practice series, Critical Race Theory, and Anti-Racism)
  • Development of a common vocabulary across the IHP through PPP
  • Co-development of 3-credit graduate-level JEDI course, called OH785 – Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Health Professions Students
  • Support of JEDI Fellows, students, staff, and faculty.

Their inspiring leadership has not only left a lasting impression on us but a permanent legacy at the IHP.

Kay accepted a new position at Lesley University as the inaugural Director of Diversity Training, Education, and Development. While we will miss them, their passion for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, enthusiasm and motivation they have given our office, we wish them the best of luck in their new endeavors!
Meet the JEDI Fellows
The JEDI Fellowship program was founded in response to the needs of the MGH Institute of Health Professions community for engagement on issues relating to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the curricular as well as co-curricular setting. The program is cohort-based and offers fellows training and mentorship from JEDI staff to co-develop, pilot, and facilitate workshops and programs. JEDI Fellows work up to 15 hours a week on various projects and programs aligned with the IHP's mission and the strategic priorities of leadership development and JEDI.
Annika Chan (she, her, hers) second-year Occupational Therapy student. Annika is the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences fellow and has been working closely with Mary Ellen Ferolito and Mike Boutin to design JEDI initiatives within the SHRS Anti-Oppression task force and trying to fill in the gaps within our institution through interprofessional collaboration.
Bella Coyne (she, her, hers) is a second-year student in the Occupational Therapy program at the IHP. Bella is working as a JEDI Fellow for the OT department and collaborating interprofessionally with other fellows on the upcoming Social Justice Research Conference, as well as partnering with Accessibility Resources on workshop development and the Janis P. Bellack Library on developing resource guides.
Corliss Kanazawa (she, her, hers) is a current second-year Direct Entry Nursing student. Corliss is a fellow in the DEN program and is a student chair for Students for Equity and Anti-Racism (SEA) in the School of Nursing. Corliss is also part of a SON taskforce specific for curriculum reform and is collaborating with Kanayo Sakai to create JEDI competencies for Institute.
Courtney King (she, her, hers) is a first-year student in the Direct-Entry MSN program and a fellow in the School of Nursing Dean’s Office. Courtney is developing a Pronouns 101 workshop and curriculum reform for the School of Nursing.
Alejandra Luna (she, her, hers) is a second-year Occupational Therapy student who joined the JEDI Office as a graduate assistant in 2019. Alejandra has been collaborating with the physical therapy department program coordinator to launch a monthly journal club, working with PT Curriculum Committee to explore ways to integrate issues of social justice more explicitly into the PT curriculum, and working with PT students to incorporate a discussion session regarding dealing with microaggressions in the workplace into their cohort retreat.
Richard Monari (he, him, his) is a second-year CSD student and a fellow in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Richard is supporting multiple faculty-led task forces in the CSD department and collaborating with other fellows to host community discussions.
Meg O'Brien is a first-year CSD student and a fellow in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies. Meg is leading a discussion on the documentary "Crip Camp" and an Intro to Intersectionality workshop. She is also working on data analysis for a survey on the perception of culture and JEDI topics in the PA program and helping with JEDI PA Task Force's environmental scan.
Rosa Ortega (she/her/hers) is a second-year CSD student and a fellow in the Department of Genetic Counseling (GC). Rosa has had the opportunity to facilitate a Brave Dialogues training for all first-year GC students. She has co-facilitated a processing space focusing on JEDI topics in the field of GC. Rosa is also supporting department dialogues on JEDI topics with instructional faculty. In collaboration with the other JEDI fellows, Rosa is continuing to co-facilitate IHP-wide film discussions and trainings.
Cherman Pierre (he, him, his) is a second-year Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Candidate in the School of Nursing’s (SON) DEN Program. His extracurricular activities consist of being a member of the IHP student-organized consortium – Students for Equity and Antiracism, as well as being a JEDI Fellow in the Dean's Office. As a Fellow, Cherman is working on workshop development for the SON and curriculum enrichment.
Kanayo Sakai (she, her, hers) is a first-year Direct-Entry Nursing student in the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner track. She reviewed curricular materials (syllabi, readings) for ABSN courses to make suggestions for changes. Kana is also a member of the JEDI SON Curriculum Task Force, which focuses on integrating JEDI principles into the nursing curriculum with the goal of ensuring that SON graduates have the knowledge and experience to care for patients from a diverse background.
JEDI News
Congratulations to NERBNA Recipients

The School of Nursing’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Nursing Faculty Leadership Team has received the 2021 Nursing Leadership Award from the New England Regional Black Nurses Association (NERBNA). The six faculty on the team – (first row, L-R) Dr. Clara Gona, Dr. Abraham Ndiwane, Dr. Oluwatomisin Olayinka, (second row, L-R) Instructor Kenya Palmer Emrich, Dr. Eleonor Pusey-Reid, and Dr. Kaveri Roy – were recognized for generating a strategic plan following the death of George Floyd and the start of the Black Lives Matter movement to facilitate a discussion about how bias, microaggressions, and lack of inclusiveness exists throughout the United States and in the School of Nursing. The team will receive the award in late February.
Dr. Kaveri Roy & Incorporating JEDI in the Classroom

JEDI Fellow Kana Saki spoke with Dr. Kaveri Roy, a distinguished teaching assistant professor in the School of Nursing, about how her teaching style embraces justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Read the interview.
Power, Privilege, and Positionality

219 IHP community members attended our most recent Power, Privilege, and Positionality event on January 13. This session featured Athena Vaughn, president and directing co-founder of Trans Resistance, and Sara Arman, health equity coordinator at Greenroots, Inc. Check out the recording. View readings and videos.
JEDI Council Update

The JEDI Council met on January 11 to discuss the JEDI Office’s hiring process, relationships of JEDI entities across the IHP (JEDI Council, JEDI Office, and JEDI in academic programs), an update on the Anti-Oppression Plan, the winter course “JEDI for the Health Professions Student,” and the January Power, Privilege, and Positionality event. Minutes from the November 16 meeting were approved. View minutes from previous meetings.
Upcoming Events
Disability as Diversity Workshop Series: Portrayals of Disability in the Media – Thursday, February 18

Please join Accessibility Resources for our February Disability as Diversity workshop “Portrayals of Disability in the Media” on Thursday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m. At this event, we will explore and examine how disabled people and disabilities are largely portrayed in the media, learn about the term ‘inspiration porn,’ and consider ways to counter the dominant narrative. This event is open to the entire IHP community. To join the discussion please register and a Zoom link will be emailed to you prior to the event.
Crip Camp Documentary Discussion – Monday, February 22

Join the JEDI Office for a virtual discussion on the documentary Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution on Monday, February 22, Noon–1:00 p.m. We will discuss the film, disability justice, and how to apply these concepts to our work in the health care professions and beyond. Participants will stream the documentary prior to the discussion, available for free. Open to all IHP students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Register.
Intersectionality Workshop: Part 1 – Tuesday, February 23

Have you ever wondered what the term intersectionality means and where it came from? Join the JEDI Office for the first part of a two-part virtual workshop series on the theory of intersectionality on Tuesday, February 16, Noon–1:00 p.m. The first part of this workshop will focus on learning about the original theory, as coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw. The second part of the workshop (date TBA) will focus on applying the theory to the healthcare professions and beyond. Open to all IHP students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Register.
Virtual Lunar New Year Events

Celebrate the Year of the Ox virtually with Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center on Saturday, February 13 at 2:00 p.m. and with Quincy Asian Resources on Sunday, February 14 at 11:00 a.m.
We're hiring!

We're hiring for an Associate Director. View job description.
Check us out on social media!
Advancing Care For a Diverse Society