How can a medical society ensure that its leadership is representative of the increasingly diverse physician workforce? The new Minority Affairs Section of the MMS was developed to answer that question.
Nidhi K. Lal, MD, MPH Courtesy: Boston Medical Center
Vital Signs talked with Nidhi K. Lal, MD, MPH, chair of the Section. Dr. Lal practices family medicine at Boston Medical Center and Urgent Care at Lowell General Hospital, and is an assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine. In 2017, Dr. Lal was honored as Community Clinician of the Year for Middlesex North District, in part for her work with culturally diverse and underserved populations. She has a special interest in narrative medicine and is working on developing it as a tool for culturally competent care. Dr. Lal, a delegate, has served as district president and alternate trustee, and as a member of the International Medical Graduates Section and the Global Health Committee. She is currently a Fulbright Specialist and is working on global health projects in India.
How did the Minority Affairs Section come about?
It originated as a Task Force on Diversity in Leadership in February 2016. Dr. Dennis Dimitri, then president, asked me to chair it. The goal was to look at whether the leadership was representative, and identify barriers and pathways to leadership. We realized a lot of our information was anecdotal, because the Society didn’t collect data on members’ race and ethnicity. We extrapolated from AMA data.
What did the task force recommend?
The task force developed a list of recommendations — but who was going to monitor implementation and progress? We needed something more than a task force that would be disbanded later. At the 2016 Interim Meeting, the task force had two recommendations: to collect race and ethnicity data, and to develop a Minority Affairs Section to continue other relevant tasks. Those resolutions passed. Dr. Jim Gessner, by then the president, asked me to chair the Section.
Who else is involved?
We invited all the members of the task force, and we invited all the minority committees to send a representative: the committees on women, diversity, LGBTQ, IMG, and students, residents, and young physicians.
How can the Section provide practical support to members?
We surveyed MMS leaders whom I considered part of a minority: Dr. Barbara Rockett, Dr. Ron Dunlap, Dr. Jay Jayasankar, Dr. Janine Saldanha, Dr. Maryanne Bombaugh. Mentoring came up as one of the most important things. Everyone said, “I never knew I could do it until someone took me under their wing and helped me, or invited me to be a leader, saying that they will help me out.” We hope and intend for the Section to be a place for mentors and mentees to connect and establish relationships.
To connect with a mentor or mentee, contact Bill Howland, director of member engagement, at (781) 434-7877 or bhowland@mms.org.
