Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Committee

As we look back on 2022, the PCICS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee (DEI) continued its efforts to focus on applying an anti-racist lens to PCICS initiatives and programming. Entering its 3^rd year, the DEI Committee is now comprised of 29 members from 21 institutions. In just two years since its inception, the DEI committee has worked to increase the PCICS diversity footprint by working in close conjunction with the programming committee to increase the diversity and representation of speakers and topics. The December 2022 PCICS Annual International Meeting highlighted these efforts, with a more diverse speaker pool and a robust committee meeting with strategic planning for the upcoming year. We also thanked Dr. Ndidi Musa for her contribution as an inaugural co-chair of the DEI committee, as she completed her 2-year term and continues on in her role as PCICS Board Member.

In January 2023, we welcomed Dr. Lie Tjoeng from Seattle Children’s Hospital as our new co-chair for a 2-year term. She has experience in health equity research, with a Masters in Health Services Research from the University of Washington. She also co-chairs the Seattle Children’s Heart Center Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Quarterly Seminar Series, as well as the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium (PC⁴) EDI Committee. She is excited to continue the work that the team has already started, and to uphold the vision of the committee “to elevate and promote diversity and cultural humility and competency within the pediatric cardiac intensive care clinicians around the globe and to elevate and promote health equity for children with heart disease.”

Looking forward, we are excited to share our initiatives for 2023. Over the next several months, we will be reaching out to each committee to strategize new ways to apply the Peterson Health Equity Framework¹, so that it becomes second nature for us as a society to hold health equity as a tenet of our cardiology community. We will also be discussing ways to allow members to add their race/ethnicity to their profiles to better understand the demographic makeup of PCICS and design initiatives to promote a diverse and inclusive professional community. One of the most exciting things we have witnessed in the last 2 years is the commitment of individuals to health equity work. Beginning this past year, we have asked a committee member to share their DEI journey at each committee meeting, showcasing the breadth and depth of our members’ work in this area. Outside of PCICS, multiple pediatric cardiology societies and collaboratives have also established DEI committees and initiatives. We look forward to looking for opportunities for cross collaboration, to leverage and scale up existing efforts within the pediatric cardiology community and make strides in improving inequities in the workplace and for our patient outcomes.

¹ Peterson A, Charles V, Yeung D, Coyle K. The Health Equity Framework: A Science- and Justice-Based Model for Public Health Researchers and Practitioners. Health Promotion Practice. 2021;22(6):741-746. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1524839920950730.