Chairs
Co-Chair: Ambika Ashraf
Co-Chair: Ilene Fennoy
BOD Liaison
Radhika Muzumdar
Mission Statement:
Our mission is to affirm the ideology of the PES as a scientific community that fosters inclusion, acceptance, and support for every person independent of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. Towards this end, our focus is to:
- Recognize implicit and explicit bias in healthcare in Pediatric Endocrinology, and address related healthcare disparities that affect our patients and families, through research, quality improvement, health delivery science, education, and outreach efforts.
- Foster equity and diversity and provide an environment of equality and mentorship for all trainees, fellows, and faculty in Pediatric Endocrinology.
Goals:
Our task force goals for the coming year are to increase awareness in our society’s membership of implicit and explicit bias in medicine in general and Pediatric Endocrinology specifically, and the contribution of said biases to health care disparities as well as to career development of minority physicians. We also aim to start to amass resources to help us address and ameliorate these biases and resulting disparities. We will contribute regularly to the newsletter, develop a needs assessment survey of our society, and will plan to offer periodic education for the PES membership.
Being an Ally that ACTS
The Health Systems & Disparities Committee invites all PES members to participate in "Being an Ally that ACTS," an interactive training program designed to provide practical skills to recognize and respond to bias, prejudice, and microaggressions in clinical, educational, and workplace settings. Using the IQEE framework (Interrupt, Question, Educate, Echo), participants will move beyond awareness and develop the confidence and tools to become allies who take meaningful action; supporting colleagues, trainees, and patients, and fostering a culture of respect and belonging.
Who should attend: Open to ALL PES members: attendings, fellows, APPs, educators, and trainees. No prior experience or preparation is required.
Program Structure & Time Commitment
The program consists of three sessions, designed to build on one another:
- Facilitator Training Webinar (for facilitator volunteers). This session will be recorded
Wednesday, September 23 I 9:30–11:30 AM ET
- Session 1 – Didactic: "Being an Ally that ACTS" This session will be recorded
Monday, September 28 I 1:00–3:00 PM ET
- Session 2 – Case Practicum Workshop This session will not be recorded
Tuesday, October 13 I 5:00–7:00 PM ET
What to expect at each session:
Didactic (Session 1): An engaging overview of allyship concepts, the evidence for why they matter, and an introduction to the IQEE framework. If you cannot attend live, a recording will be available — but we encourage live attendance for the full experience.
Case Practicum (Session 2): Small-group, facilitated discussions of real-world case scenarios, opening with a brief IQEE skills refresher. This session will not be recorded intentionally so participants can share personal experiences and engage openly and candidly. Live attendance is required.
Sessions are sequenced deliberately: the didactic prepares you for the case practicum, so plan to attend (or view) them in order.
Call for Facilitators
We are recruiting approximately 10 volunteer facilitators to lead small-group discussions during the Case Practicum. Facilitators attend all three sessions, including the dedicated Facilitator Training on September 23 led by Dr. Rickquel Tripp (UPMC). This is a rewarding, low-lift opportunity to build skills you can bring back to your own institution, previously trained facilitators are welcome to return, and new volunteers are enthusiastically encouraged.
Total time commitment: 4 hours for general participants (2 hours may be viewed as a recording); 6 hours for facilitators.