The Department of Medicine is pleased to share that the Churchwell Diversity and Inclusion Collective (CDIC) has been selected as a winner of Emory’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award. This year’s celebration recognized individuals and groups from the Emory and Atlanta communities for their outstanding and unparalleled response to break down injustice through activism and voting.
The CDIC is a resident-run organization born out of the desire to cultivate a safe and welcoming environment for internal medicine housestaff from diverse backgrounds. The group promotes diversity and inclusion in the J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program by advocating for system-level changes through residency curricular reform, voter registration, advocacy campaigns, and direct volunteer work and community outreach.
During the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 Georgia Senate election, the organization worked tirelessly to engage inpatients and outpatients in registering to vote, and in accessing and completing absentee ballot applications for persons who may have otherwise not known where or how to access them, either due to safety concerns of in-person attendance, lack of broadband access, or lack of technical skills to apply online during the COVID-19 pandemic. These issues are pervasive among communities that have been affected by issues such as redlining, housing affordability, and lack of access to public transportation, and the CDIC strove to ensure such patients could overcome these barriers and participate in the voting process. Simple interventions such as nametag placards with QR codes, whereby patients could get to an online application even if hospitalized, allowed for this to occur. In addition, the group ensured voting information regarding voting sites, hours, and how to obtain absentee ballots was regularly sent to residents and faculty, especially given the fact that physicians have been shown to vote less frequently than many other professionals. These collective efforts ensured that as many voices were heard as possible.
“Receiving the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award is a humbling accomplishment for us as members of CDIC,” said Martin Campbell, CDIC president. “As physicians, we took an oath to serve our patients, and we have a strong conviction that this service goes beyond the hospital walls. With this in mind, we strive to create initiatives that partner with the local and broader community to empower people to be their healthiest mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual selves. This award is a reminder of the wonderful work that has been done, but it is an even greater reminder of the work that remains. We accept this award with the glaring optimism of a more equitable world for the wonderful patients we serve.”
Please join us in congratulating the CDIC on this impressive recognition and their incredible commitment to activism in our community!
The award nomination was submitted by Stacie Schmidt, MD, associate professor of medicine.
Related Links
- Churchwell Diversity and Inclusion Collective
- Health Equity and Advocacy in the Internal Medicine Residency Program
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the DOM
- CDIC Instagram
- CDIC Twitter
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