2025 DoM DEIA Pilot Grant Awardees!!
The Department of Medicine launched its inaugural Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Pilot Grant program this year, supporting innovative projects led by interdisciplinary teams of faculty, trainees, and staff. Proposals focused on improving clinical care, education, workforce development, community engagement, and research to advance DEIA across the department.
The first annual DEIA Pilot Grant recipients are:
Jessica Fetterman, PhD (Vascular Biology): Tissue is the Issue: Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Postmortem Organ Donation for Research to Diversify Cardiac Biobanks. A proposed study to understand limited representation of historically marginalized racial/ethnic groups in postmortem organ biobanks. They plan to use surveys and town halls including Framingham Heart Study and BMC patients to achieve this goal. Team members include Deepa M. Gopal, MD, MS, Jesse D. Moreira-Bouchard, PhD, Zachary Milstone, MD, PhD, Anna Zhebrun, Joshua Lepson, Karen Li, Jason Cunha, MS, Nathanial Fisher, MS, Anjali Anilkumar, Hahnbie Kim, Cosette Giroux, and Zoe Trainer.
Elliot Hagedorn, PhD (Hematology & Oncology): Reaching Further with the BU-BMC Summer Science Scholars Outreach Program. The team proposes to expand an existing high school research training program to include more longitudinal mentoring, cohort collaboration, shadowing, and peer/alumni engagement. Co-directors are Dr. Gwen Beacham and Zewde Ingram.
Lucy Schulson, MD, MPH (GIM): IMPACT-IRHC: Implementation of MedAction Plan in BMC’s Resident Immigrant and Refugee Health Clinic. A proposed pilot the implementation of a multi-lingual transitions of care document written at a 5th grade reading level (MedAction Plan) in BMC primary care clinics after adapting it for BMC immigrant/refugee patients. Co-investigators are Drs. Sarah Kimball and Kirsten Austad.
Join us in congratulating the DEIA Pilot Grant awardees!!