Division of Infectious Diseases

Diversity and Inclusion

The Infectious Diseases Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee is comprised of faculty, staff and trainees dedicated to promoting and advancing DEI within the Department of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases.

The committee’s mission is to cultivate a diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist work environment that promotes equity in career opportunity and advancement for all members of the division.

To achieve this mission, the division’s DEI Committee engages in a range of activities focused on three main pillars:

• Faculty and fellowship recruitment and hiring
• Diversity, equity and inclusion education and training
• Building interpersonal relationships

These activities have included, but are not limited to:

• Wording on job announcements
• Dissemination of job announcements
• Unconscious bias training for search committee
• Diversity reflected in search committee
• Standardized questions to reduce implicity bias
• Review team for fellow applicants
• Outreach of fellowship program directors to HBCU institutions
• Division-wide unconscious bias training
• Sharing resources from VUMC and Department of Medicine Diversity Liaison committees
• Equity ID Grand Rounds

Through these efforts, the division’s DEI Committee aims to foster a sense of belonging and community within the Division of Infectious Diseases and to contribute to the broader VUMC and Department of Medicine missions to make diversity and inclusion intentional by promoting health equity and addressing health disparities in our society.

Upcoming events include:

• DEI-focused journal club
• Equity Challenge
• Increasing Interpersonal Interactions 

Vanderbilt DEI Resources:

• VUMC Department of Medicine Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• VUMC Diversity and Inclusion

• VUMC Diversity Liaison Committee

• VUMC Employee Resource Groups

  •  African American ERG

  • Asian American/Pacific Islander ERG

  • Disability ERG

  • Latino ERG

  • LBGTQ ERG

• VUMC Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and Disability

• VUMC House Staff Diversity & Inclusion Alliance

• VUMC Minority Housestaff for Academic and Medical Achievement

• VUMC Office of Diversity Affairs

• VUMC Office of Health Equity Antiracism Hub

• VUMC Office of Inclusion and Health Equity

• VUMC Program for LGBTQ Health

• Vanderbilt University Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

• Vanderbilt University Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Life

• Diversity Literature and Articles (SharePoint access required)

Karen Bloch, MD, MPH

Professor of Medicine

Kelly Dooley, MD, PhD, MPH

Professor of Medicine
Director, Divison of Infectious Diseases

Christina Fiske, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Sharon Onguti, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Anna Person, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine
Diversity Laision, Department of Medicine

Peter Rebeiro, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Henrique Serezani, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine

Christina Vojtek, MD

Infectious Diseases Fellow

Celestine Wanjalla, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine