MGH Mclean
MGH/McLean Psychiatry supports a vibrant community of talented and diverse students, residents and faculty.
The residents in this program are a special group! We are committed to celebrating our differences, interpersonal growth, and engaging in critical discussions that expand our understanding of and comfort with the diverse experiences of each other. While some of these conversations have occurred in the context of formal didactics (see below), many occur in less formal resident forums such as noon conferences.
In recent years, we have created the following diversity and inclusion initiatives:
Upcoming initiatives include:
In addition, the MGH Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) works closely with our training programs to sponsor welcome receptions, host mentoring events, and connect residents with programs such as the Resident Cost of Living Stipend Pilot Program and the Partners Lease Guaranty Program.
Beginning in 2015, MGH/McLean residents have spearheaded the Resident Advocacy Committee, a group dedicated to challenging systemic disparities in our hospitals and communities and promoting activism and service. With support from program administration and faculty in Community Psychiatry, the RAC residents created two impressive didactics series focused on the topics of racism and advocacy. These curricula have since been presented at national conferences.
In 2022, MGH Department of Psychiatry created the Center for Racial Justice and Equity, directed by Dr. Olivia Okereke.
As always, our patients are our greatest teachers. They represent an enormously diverse group with respect to race, ethnicity, country of origin and immigration status, language, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, education, etc. We get to know them in multiple settings, from the outpatient clinic to the emergency department to the inpatient surgical services. Residents very much appreciate the breadth of patients to whom we are exposed and provide care.When residents develop interest in a particular patient population and desire further exposure, the program is incredibly supportive in facilitating the opportunity to develop a tailored clinical experience to promote the resident’s expertise and work to further develop the hospital’s capacity for treating that population. For example, a recent MGH/McLean graduate, Alex Keuroghlian, developed a clinical interest in transgender patients, tailored his clinical experience to support his interest, learned and grew from the experience, and has since facilitated both other residents’ and faculty’s continued interest in providing informed care for this psychiatrically underserved population.
Many of our trainees expand their expertise beyond the Boston area into the realm of global psychiatry in the 3rd and 4th years. Others use the practices and principles of global psychiatry to focus on global communities right here in our own backyard — for example, researching barriers to care through church outreach among African immigrants in the nearby town of Lowell, MA, or addressing disparities in mental health service utilization among immigrants in Boston’s Chinatown.
We appreciate being a part of an academic medical setting that shares these values and provides resources for inclusion across the spectrum of diversity interests.
A major public health problem reaching crisis level is the unmet mental health needs of populations around the globe.
