Inclusive Recruitment
The Office of Health Equity at UMass Chan Medical School is implementing several initiatives that seek to enhance representation of faculty from groups traditionally underrepresented in medicine relative to their numbers in the general population. These initiatives support our institutional mission to advance the health and wellness of our diverse communities throughout Massachusetts and across the world by leading and innovating in education, research, health care delivery and public service, in accordance with our strategic plan (IMPACT 2025), and are responsive to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accreditation standards.
As per the National Institutes of Health, groups underrepresented in medicine include individuals from racial and ethnic groups (Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders), individuals with disabilities, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, and women from these groups.
Cluster Hire Program
The UMass Chan cluster hire program is implemented every year to hire tenure track faculty as a part of an interdisciplinary life sciences, bench to community, faculty cohort. The program seeks to hire individuals from interdisciplinary backgrounds whose research and experience serve to support the UMass Chan health equity mission. Cluster hires may be hired into one or more than one UMass Chan departments.
We are especially eager to consider applicants who will support and elevate the UMass Chan commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and foster an environment of inclusive collaborative excellence where all faculty can thrive. To advance this goal, the program uses best practices for inclusive recruitment. As such, the program implements broad outreach to attract a large and diverse group of applicants and uses strategies to mitigate unconscious bias in the evaluation of candidates. For example, the application packet requires the submission of a research plan that has been anonymized by the applicant, and a diversity, equity and inclusion statement; and search committees are required to participate in unconscious bias training and use standardized rubrics for evaluating candidates.
The new cluster recruits are offered a Investigator Career Advancement Program (iCAP) that includes mentorship, sponsorship and a structured curriculum intended to empower their scientific and professional development as well as facilitate their social and cultural integration into our larger UMass Chan scientific community.
Please check back soon to apply for our Cluster Hire Program!
Health Equity Recruitment and Career Advancement (HERCA) Program
The Health Equity Recruitment and Career Advancement (HERCA) program is a compensation benefit for faculty who help fulfill the health equity goal of our educational and clinical mission. This program is intended to facilitate the hiring of clinician educators (dual faculty) who have identities and backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine. This program acknowledges the many contributions of minoritized faculty to the cognitive diversity of our institution and recognizes that these faculty are critical to our mission of clinical and educational excellence for advancing the health and wellness of our diverse communities locally and globally. The program also recognizes that underrepresented faculty are essential role models for our underrepresented students, and cultural ambassadors that benefit all students and faculty, and our overall institutional culture of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
The program provides a supplemental compensation benefit, an assigned mentor, and a mentoring plan tailored to the hires.
Department Chairs who wish to nominate a faculty recruit for the HERCA program, please contact the Program Manager in the Office of Health Equity to acquire the form.
Diversity KL2 Program
This is a NIH-funded program with additional institutional funding from UMass Chan to attract and further support the career advancement of junior clinical and translational scientists from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine and the biomedical sciences.
The major aims of the KL2 program are to:
- Provide a mentored career development experience with outstanding, scientifically diverse mentors to qualified clinician-scientists.
- Implement a flexible career development plan with a core curriculum tailored to each scholar for advanced competencies, scientific interests, and development of essential characteristics for translational researchers.
- Create a scientifically and socio-demographically diverse community of early-stage investigators.
Successful award completers may be considered for a tenure track line at the end of the award.
Applications from junior underrepresented faculty hires are encouraged. Applications are on a rolling basis.
DEI Resources
Departmental DEI Liaisons
Each department at UMass Chan Medical school has a designated Diversity Liaison. These liaisons meet monthly with both the Office of Health Equity and the Diversity and Inclusion Office to discuss: departmental DEI efforts, institutional DEI efforts, departmental suggestions and concerns around DEI, and other issues relating to the UMass Chan IMPACT 2025 pillar of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
See a list of Department Diversity Liaisons
Affinity Groups
The Diversity and Inclusion Office organizes the UMass Chan affinity groups which include:
- AALANA: Representing African American, Latinx, Asian and Native American members. The AALANA faculty network seeks to support and advance faculty of color through collaboration, celebration, and knowledge, as well as providing mentoring opportunities, professional development, and networking events.
- Colorful Voices Network: A POC-centered affinity group dedicated to supporting UMass Chan employees’ growth both personally and professionally. CVN is a forum for employees to develop skills, network, and support key DEI initiatives.
- The People of Color Affinity Group aims to create a safe space where those who have experienced structural oppression, marginalization and/or other micro-aggressions can share their experiences with others who have a shared sense of identity. This is a place for connection, mentorship and support to promote belongingness, healing and development of a collective power. The group will engage in conversations, workshops, social networking events, celebratory events, and more.
- Disabilities Group supports UMass Chan's long-standing commitment to a welcoming and accessible environment to assure that individuals with disabilities may participate in all of the benefits and opportunities afforded to the university community.
- LGBTA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Allies) supports LGBTA faculty, staff and students in the university community. The group works to create a visible network of support and serves as a resource for the UMass Chan LGBT community.
- Professional Women’s Group seeks to create an inclusive team-based environment which is conducive to cross-cultural collaboration, promotes salary equity, and creates synergies to encourage and foster professional and personal growth and development for women.
- The Veterans Group: Embraces our proud community of employee veterans and spouses of veterans at UMass Chan. Encourages each other through shared experiences, veteran recruitment, career development, outward engagement, professional growth and retention.