Diversity & Inclusion

Pediatrics Diversity and Inclusion

The Department of Pediatrics is committed to creating and fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive work and learning environment. This includes recruiting and retaining trainees, faculty and staff of varied backgrounds, including those from historically marginalized communities and others underrepresented in medicine and science.

Our department strives to create an environment that honors the differences of our team members and exemplifies USC’s unifying values.

The Department of Pediatrics is proud to serve the diverse population of Los Angeles, and we seek to create a workforce that reflects our broader community.

These efforts are supported through a dedicated departmental DEI Champion who also works closely with JEDI-WeST.

The Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles is committed to pediatric health, and wellness, acknowledging that we achieve our best and most innovative work together. We seek to achieve this goal by celebrating both the shared and unique experiences that each of our patients, families, employees, and community partners bring to the table. It is our responsibility to identify, integrate and implement practices that support diversity equity and inclusion, and to create space and opportunity that allows each voice to be heard and thrive.

We embrace that our strength should reflect our community which includes those of different ages, gender expression, sexual orientation, racial backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, cultural experiences, financial resources, family structures, religious beliefs, different abilities, migration status, refugee status, life experiences, and so many others as well as the intersection of these identities. We strive to celebrate our commonalities and differences at every opportunity.

We acknowledge that medical and mental health institutions, including our own, have contributed to inequities and disparities.  For this reason, our journey must be continuous, iterative, and purposefully inclusive as we strive to champion social justice and create access to care for all those in our community, research that is devoid of bias, education that seeks to empower all and leadership that recognizes those under-represented must be at the table.   

To this end we will promote educational and mentorship opportunities for a diverse group of trainees and faculty, acknowledging that equity and inclusion demand that we address challenges that result in differential access to opportunity.  We commit to recruitment that seeks to reflect the richness of the communities that we serve.  We unequivocally believe that our research efforts must avoid perpetrating stereotypes and bias and be transparent and ethical.  We support leadership development and selection of those under-represented in medicine as a testament to the power and necessity of diversity and inclusion in delivering our best and most innovative work together.  Finally, we agree to be transparent in our efforts, our challenges, our progress, and our promise to advocate for social justice and foster an environment that is indeed diverse, equitable and inclusive.