“We met with Dean Carreiro to have the [EDAC] committee come out of the Dean’s Office so that EDAC doesn’t diminish when students leave for third year rotations,” Karissa explains. “That way if someone is not on campus, it will stand for future generations.” In April, Dean Carreiro wrote the COM Community asking for participants in the new Deans Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion stating, “it is my intent that the [committee] will create opportunities for open involvement, input, and discussion that extends to all members of our COM community.”
Stephanie Czajkowski, COM ’20 supporting sexual assault awareness at Denim Day
Growing Diversity on the National Level
In 2018-19, Stephanie Czajkowski, COM ’20 was appointed National Diversity Representative for the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents. The position works directly with AACOM and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in promoting diversity in medicine on the national level. The position is only in its second year, but Steph is confident that it will be voted on permanently since, as she puts it, “diversity isn’t something that is going away.” Steph wants to continue the great things her predecessor started (Zuri Hudson, a student from Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of
Osteopathic Medicine in Harrogate, TN). One initiative she found meaningful were posts from medical students on the COSGP social media pages that highlighted student truths, triumphs, and tragedies; what stood out for her was their honesty and ability to speak to diversity on a deeper level. “Personalizing diversity makes it harder not to relate to someone,” she explains. “When you make it too general, it’s not relatable.” In addition to her other responsibilities, Steph will be in charge of posting articles on different topics (i.e. implicit bias, equity vs. equality) in the weekly COSGP emails for members to share with their constituents, and will chair a committee to implement different projects and initiatives that the group decides to address. Of the opportunity, she says, “I want to encourage others to find their voice, and to apply this lens in whatever they are doing.”
Over the next year, she hopes to grow the presence of diversity on the national level, become a motivator for her team, and to educate and provide resources for other COMs across the country. She intends to use AACOM’s national presence to celebrate what is already being done at different medical schools. “Diversity is important because people from different backgrounds bring enrichment to a community. When you have people from diverse places, you can challenge and enrich perspectives. In our current news media outlets, we don’t go outside our comfort zones… it becomes difficult to motivate people to care.” She recounts a story of a trans male patient at Fenway Health who needed a pap smear because he had a cervix. The receptionist unfortunately laughed when he stated what his appointment was for. “Transitioning can mean different things,” Steph clarifies. “People don’t have the right education or on-going education, or aren’t exposed to various things. At UNE COM, we can educate to be appropriate when interacting with patients. Currently, it is up to the instructor to integrate it into the curriculum, but I would like to see it interwoven throughout everything.”
Recent graduate, Masina Wright, DO ’19, recognized the education gap for transgender health, and, with the support of the American Medical Student Association and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, developed a Transgender Health Elective. Many students from UNE COM have already taken the course, including first-year student, Anna McLean, COM ’22. "I