The BIDMC Harvard Psychiatry Residency Program recognizes the value of providing a diverse, welcoming, and supportive environment to all of our trainees.

We commit to recruiting and retaining residents from diverse backgrounds, including members of underrepresented and minority groups.

We believe that our patients, our program, the field of psychiatry, and we as individuals benefit from increasing representation among mental health providers in terms of race, culture, place of origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, faith, and all other aspects of identification.

Allison Jackson participates in a hospital-wide demonstration against violence perpetrated by law enforcement against racial minorities, June 2020

We commit to fostering a learning environment that is inclusive and inviting to members of under-represented and minority groups.

We commit to learning from the perspective and experiences of members of under-represented and minority groups and using what we learn to identify and address biases, build our community, and help our patients.

We consider it our responsibility to mentor members of under-represented and minority groups, fostering skills that enable them to thrive in clinical and administrative leadership positions where their perspective and experience are desperately needed.

We commit to teaching our residents to be mindful of matters of social justice in their clinical work and personal lives and encouraging them to be active agents of change.

We commit to including discussions of diversity, inclusion, personal bias, systemic discrimination, cultural influences on mental health, and social justice in the formal and informal curriculum of residency, particularly as pertains to our program, our hospital, and our city.

Our faculty and residents who are not part of under-represented or minority groups commit to being allies to our colleagues. We endeavor to be mindful of bias, prejudice, intolerance, and microagggressions, to call these out when we see them, and to not tolerate statements, actions, systems, and policies that promote and sustain discrimination. We know that we play a part in the problem. We are committed to correcting this working against systemic racism, sexism, xenophobia, prejudice based on sexual orientation or gender identity, religious discrimination, and all other forms of exclusion.

Program Resources

Within the program, we have an active faculty and resident Working Group on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and encourage all residents in the program to participate. We are fortunate to colloborate on these issues with Dr. Donna Norris, the Director of Initiatives in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of Psychiatry at BIDMC. Dr. Norris welcomes communication with applicants as they explore residency programs during the admissions process (see contact information below)

Residents also have the opportunity to join the resident-led Advocacy Committee. Recent initiative include meeting with state legislators to advocate for specific laws to promote mental health, organizing an faculty and resident team for the AFSP suicide prevention walk, promiting awareness and registration for elections, and leading a workshop for all program residents on advocacy and op-ed writing. It is always open to new members and ideas!

If you identify as a member of an underrepresented population and have questions about the training experience at the BIDMC Harvard Psychiatry Residency Program, we welcome you to contact any of the program directors to discuss.

Additionally, we have a designated resident Diversity and Inclusion Liaisons who is available to applicants to discuss these matters. The Diversity and Inclusion Liaison will not share with the program directors that they have had contact with an applicant unless asked to do so by the applicant.
 

Director of Initiatives in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of Psychiatry at BIDMC:

Donna Norris, MD
dmnorris@bidmc.harvard.edu
 

Resident Diversity and Inclusion Liaisons:

Vanessa Reguitti, PGY3
vreguitt@bidmc.harvard.edu

Bryce Hill, PGY2
bahill@bidmc.harvard.edu

Additional Hospital and Harvard Medical School Resources

BIDMC's Office for Diversity, Inclusion, and Career Advancement develops, implements, and evaluates programs to support faculty and trainees from underrepresented minorities in medicine. For more information, visit their website.

Harvard Medical School's Office for Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership (DICP) works towards their mission of advancing diversity and inclusion in health, biodmedical, behavioral, and STEM fields. For more information, visit their website.

Harvard Medical School and its affiliated hospitals have also prepared a video on the training experience at Harvard hospitals, which you can view here.

Harvard Medical School's Office for Diversity, Inclusion, & Community Partnership and the Office for Communications and External Relations have created several videos highlighting the benefits of living and working in Boston that we recommend viewing:

You Can Thrive Here: Working in Boston

You Can Thrive Here: Living in Boston

You Can Thrive Here: Relaxing in Boston

We encourage students that identify as part of an underrepresented group in medicine to learn more about our program by participating in psychiatry electives, particularly through Harvard Medical School's Visiting Clerkship program which provides supports for African American, Latinx, and Native American applicants. For more information on visiting clerkships, click here.