HEED Award: Higher Education Excellence in Diversity

The University of Virginia has received the 2016 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the Health Professions HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. medical, dental, pharmacy, osteopathic, nursing, and allied health schools that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — The University of Virginia’s School of Medicine will be featured, along with 30 other recipients, in the December 2016 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

“Our plan is to shift the responsibility for diversity and inclusiveness onto all administrators, faculty, staff, researchers, and students within the School of Medicine,” said Greg Townsend, MD, UVA School of Medicine’s Associate Dean for Diversity

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine selected UVA’s School of Medicine based on the institution’s success on how it values, engages, and includes diverse faculty, staff, students, patients, and suppliers. More than a short-term project or a narrow initiative, UVA’s School of Medicine has a comprehensive approach that requires fundamental transformation of the School’s culture by embedding and practicing inclusion in every effort, aspect, and level of the institution.

“The Health Professions HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion. We take a holistic approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being accomplished every day across their campus,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

For more information about the 2016 Health Professions HEED Award, click here.