24 Inspiring Stories of DEI in Action

Learn more about the inspiring individuals who are featured on the cover of Outpatient Surgery Magazine’s June/July 2024 issue.

In November 2019, Outpatient Surgery Magazine published a Special Edition on Diversity in Surgery. It was our way of letting readers know that we believe Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) warranted our attention and resources. After launching that issue, we began dedicating a cover story to the subject each year. We also created a DEI column that is still published regularly.

Since 2019, we’ve run dozens of DEI articles on a variety of topics as diverse as their namesake. Over the past five years, Outpatient Surgery Magazine has shared personal stories of providers’ experiences with discrimination, racism and bias; passed along practical tips on providing welcoming care for the LGBTQ+ and the neurodivergent communities; and relayed inspirational tales of surgeons and nurses overcoming seemingly insurmountable disabilities.

In our June/July 2024 issue, we celebrated our DEI journey with a conceptual cover featuring the photos of 24 of our DEI experts and subjects. In this web exclusive, we identify those individuals (from left to right) and link to the articles in which they were featured or authored so that our readers may explore, once again, the inspirational stories we have published.

1. Ari Collins, SA-C/CST. In our 2020 cover story, Ms. Collins was one of a handful of healthcare providers who shared their personal experiences of discrimination in the workplace. Ms. Collins’ examples of direct and indirect racism were disturbing, but her determination to create a “more inclusive environment in the OR” was inspiring.

2. Michelle S. Caird, MD. In addition to her contributions to the cover story in our June/July 2024 issue, Dr. Baird authored a February 2022 DEI column on the disparity between the number of men and women surgeons in health care, and the need to increase the latter.

3. Shamayne D. Braman, EdM, penned an article in the December 2019 Special Edition on Diversity in Surgery that outlined the many reasons healthcare facilities of all types should be embracing diversity in its many forms.

4. Phillip Louie, MD. In a compelling and personal DEI column in our May 2021 issue, Dr. Phillip, a spine surgeon by trade, described what it was like to experience anti-Asian discrimination while he was also dedicating his skills to caring for COVID-19 patients in New York City during the height of the pandemic.

5. Skyra Rideaux (along with coauthor Elsa Dimitriadis) bylined a practical DEI column in our March 2021 issue on how to use listening sessions to create safe spaces where “diverse groups of people share personal experiences and perspectives, clarify viewpoints and develop solutions to common concerns.”

6. Shanna K. Kattari, PhD, Med, CSE, ACS, provided readers with an invaluable toolkit to navigate the landscape of sexual orientation and gender identification in the December 2019Special Edition on Diversity in Surgery

7. Nicole D. Goulet, MD, FACS. In a DEI column in our October 2021 issue, Dr. Goulet shared her vision for a more supportive environment for LGBTQ+ healthcare providers and how the Association of Out Surgeons and Allies aims to do just that.

8. India Marshall is a surgical patient whose story about her surgeon, Jewel Greywoode, MD, taking the time to braid her hair correctly prior to surgery went viral. In our September 2020 DEI column, we examined why this seemingly small act had such a huge impact.

9. Javad Sajan, MD, is a plastic surgeon in Seattle whose practice focuses on gender affirming surgery. Dr. Sajan’s 2022 column chronicled care he provides.

10. Matthew Goldshore, MD, PhD, MPH, helped launch the Center for Surgical Health at Penn Medicine, a program that focuses on improving access to outpatient surgery for underserved people in Philadelphia. He wrote about surgery as a human right in a November 2021 DEI column.

11. Amanda J. Whippey, MD, first authored an article on caring for patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in our 2019 Special Edition on Diversity in Surgery. Dr. Whippey was also interviewed in the June/July 2024 cover story.

12. Faizan Kabani, PhD, MBA, MHA, CDP, authored a 2023 November/December DEI column about language, culture and accent bias.

13. Ingrid Rush, MHA, BSN, RN, wrote a DEI column for our February 2023 edition about her experience with microaggressions and solutions on how to reduce them.

14. Rebecca T. Gilbert, DNP, RN, CCRN, authored a November 2019 article about reducing incivility.

15. Cherisse Berry, MD, FACS, wrote a DEI column for our October 2020 issue about why diversity at all levels of healthcare systems is important.

16. India Winford (formerly India Marshall) is a clinic administrator who, in 2020, wrote about her experience as a patient searching for a surgeon with whom she was comfortable as her provider.

17. Heena Santry, MD, MS, FACS, wrote a December 2020 DEI column about understanding implicit bias where she argued that unconscious stereotypes and prejudice lead to automatic assumptions about colleagues, patients and situations that impact decision-making and shape their daily actions.

18. Nakeisha McNeill Tolliver (formerly Nakeisha Archer), DNP, MBA, RN, NE-BC, CNOR, CSSM, first contributed to Outpatient Surgery Magazine’s DEI content with her article “Hope for the Future” in the November 2019 Diversity in Surgery Special Edition. Dr. Tolliver, who currently serves as AORN president, recently shared her thought on how embracing DEI can improve the patient experience and address nursing shortage on Together We Rise – A Presidents’ Forum.

19. Paris Butler, MD, MPH, FACS, wrote a February 2021 DEI column about the challenges in providing equitable access to health care for all people, and that building a more just healthcare system requires widespread and purposeful action.

20. Elsa Dimitriadis (along with coauthor Skyra Rideaux) bylined a practical DEI column in our March 2021 issue about how honest talk about our differences through listening sessions leads to greater understanding, and also offered advice on how to get these conversations started.

21. G. Rumay Alexander, EdD, MSN, BSN, RN, FAAN, authored a column in our August 2020 edition about why surgery must be a welcoming space for all races, sexualities, genders, gender identities, ages, nationalities and physical abilities, and that widespread improvements are needed to increase diversity across health care.

22. Steven J. Waisbren, MD, PhD. In a moving and deeply personal column, Dr. Waisbren wrote about how challenging it has been as a parent to raise his son who is living with autism in a world that doesn’t always understand or accommodate his unique needs. The May 2022 DEI column also offers ideas on how facilities can correct this inequity.

23. Crystal N. Johnson-Mann, MD, MPH, FACS, FASMBS, wrote a powerful column in our August 2021 issue about how having mentors and leaders in surgery who can advise underrepresented providers is vital for both surgeons and their patients.

24. Allison P. Squires, PhD, FAAN, RN. In the 2019 Special Edition on Diversity in Surgery, Dr. Squires offered nine tips for facilities to help them better negotiate language barriers to provide more equitable and inclusive care. OSM