APMA News - September/October 2023 - A1

Young Physicians
September/October 2023 | Issue 84
Trusted News and Information
for Young Physicians and Students
An Update on APMA
DEI Committee Efforts
By Denise Peraza-Martinez, fourth-year podiatric medical student at Western University of Health Sciences College of
Podiatric Medicine, APMSA Liaison to the APMA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee
I
Denise Peraza-Martinez
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EDITOR:
Tiffany Kildale, tkildale@apma.org
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR:
Julia Jacobson, jjacobson@apma.org
DESIGN: Suzanne Kleinwaks Design
APMA gratefully acknowledges
the support of PICA, a
ProAssurance Company,
founding sponsor of the
Young Physicians' Program.
t's an honor to learn from and serve
on the APMA DEI Committee as the
American Podiatric Medical Students'
Association Liaison. I learned about
APMA's existence during my first semester
of medical school in Fall 2020. At the
start of the academic year, our interprofessional
course assigned us to search for
organizations within our respective professions
that publicly denounced racism
and were committed to DEI initiatives.
I was very proud to know APMA stood
behind what is correct, valuing human
life regardless of background, and I
immediately accepted the opportunity to
serve on the DEI Committee.
I
enjoy working with
podiatric physicians and surgeons from
across the nation who are passionate
about the profession and are agents
of change. Since the founding of the
committee, we've been focused on our
mission of identifying and improving
diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout
APMA's practices.
As the committee continues to hold
monthly meetings, we've unlearned [previous
attitudes and beliefs] and learned
about the significance of diversity, equity,
inclusion, anti-bias, and anti-racism. We
are led by our chair, William Harris IV,
DPM; DEI Consultant Sharonda Simmons
from Thrive and Shine LLC; and
our staff liaison, Kayla Fuller. Our podiatric
leaders serving the committee have
set the stage for organized structural
assessment, goal setting, education, and
implementation of DEI practices and
policies. We've developed priorities and
created a framework of four working
groups to address and tackle our goals.
The
working
groups
focus
on
a group of
Education, Policies and Procedures,
Communication and Outreach, and Data
and Research. While each group works
individually toward identifying and
accomplishing its goals, all committee
members have the opportunity to review
materials and contribute thoughts and
ideas. We look forward to continuing
these challenging conversations and
increasing awareness of the importance
of integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion
principles in all facets of APMA.
Additional information and
resources can be found at
www.apma.org/dei.
YOUR APMA / PAGE 1

http://www.apma.org/dei

APMA News - September/October 2023

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