• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Choose which site to search.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Logo University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
College of Medicine: Department of Biomedical Informatics
  • UAMS Health
  • Jobs
  • Giving
  • About Us
    • Employment
    • News
    • Links
    • Department Intranet
  • Faculty
    • Primary Faculty
    • Secondary Faculty
    • Adjunct Faculty
  • Staff
  • Education
    • Admission Information
    • Student Funding Opportunities
    • Graduate Programs
    • Current Course Offerings
    • DBMI FAQs
    • Research & Application Seminar
    • Recorded Sessions for CME Credit
  • INBRE
    • INBRE Bioinformatics Core Support Request Form
  • Research Labs
    • Publications
    • Arkansas Center for Genomic & Ecological Medicine (ArC-GEM)
    • Arkansas Clinical Data Repository (AR-CDR)
    • Biomedical Ontologies Arkansas (BOAR)
  • Clinical Informatics Fellowship
    • Fellowship Overview
    • Training Sites
    • Faculty
    • Current Fellows
    • Welcome to Little Rock!
  • Databases
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • About DBMI-DEI
    • DBMI-DEI Committee Members
    • DBMI-DEI Resources
    • DBMI-DEI Committee Events
  1. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  2. College of Medicine
  3. Department of Biomedical Informatics
  4. News
  5. DBMI Team Publishes on Virtual Diversity Curriculum

DBMI Team Publishes on Virtual Diversity Curriculum

Portrait of Cilia Zayas
Cilia Zayas

A team of researchers from the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) has published its work developing and testing a diversity, equity and inclusion curriculum for use in higher education.

The paper, “Experiences with Developing and Implementing a Courageous Conversations Pilot Classroom Through Synchronous Meetings via Zoom,” appears in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science.

The paper’s first author is DBMI Ph.D. student Cilia Zayas , along with co-authors Tremaine B. Williams, Ed.D., and Mathias Brochhausen, Ph.D. Both Dr. Williams and Dr. Brochhausen are DBMI faculty.

The paper details the development of the pilot course curriculum in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in summer 2020. The course was implemented as a pilot program at the University of Florida, where Zayas and Brochhausen were employed at the time. The  model curriculum takes a collaborative approach and can be used with students, staff and faculty.

Mathias Brochhausen
Dr. Mathias Brochhausen

Zayas and Brochhausen met with participants at the end of the semester to gain feedback about their experience and found that many reported valuing listening to others talk about their own personal lived experiences.

“We all benefit from learning from each other, but often those conversations are difficult to have. Facilitators encouraged the participants to stay engaged, expect to feel discomfort, speak their truth, and accept non-closure,” Zayas said. “These ground rules enabled the groups to have real discussions about diversity, equity and inclusion by establishing a safe framework in which to share and explore – even under stressful circumstances. Participants found these discussions valuable, and many reported they would either re-take the course or recommend it to a colleague.”

To learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion research and efforts at DBMI, visit our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee website.

Posted by Amy Widner on December 5, 2022

Filed Under: DBMI-DEI, Department News, Publications

UAMS College of Medicine LogoUAMS College of MedicineUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Mailing Address: 4301 West Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: (501) 686-7000
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy

© 2023 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences