Building inclusive leadership

Leadership in medicine should reflect the diversity of the communities it serves. At Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine, efforts to foster inclusive leadership have evolved into tangible initiatives—including the Diversity in Leadership Fund, which provides financial support for equity-deserving faculty and staff to pursue leadership training.

While EDIA has long been a priority in the Faculty, the past several years has seen a sharpened focus on increasing leadership diversity, ensuring that meaningful change extends beyond policy to real opportunities for career growth.

When representatives from the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CCAMS) visited Dalhousie in 2017 and granted the undergraduate medical education program full accreditation through 2024, they highlighted an opportunity to enhance diversity within senior leadership.

At the time, among clinical and basic science department heads, only one individual identified as female. 

“It was a wake-up call,” says Dr. Shawna O’Hearn, director of the Office of Community Partnerships and Global Health. “We had been focusing on diversity among students and other learners but hadn’t considered leadership.”

Recognizing this gap, Dean of Medicine, Dr. David Anderson, initiated a team to identify barriers to diverse leadership and develop strategies to address them.

The Diversity in Leadership Taskforce was initially focused on gender diversity, however, as discussions progressed, it became evident that leadership representation should extend beyond gender to encompass race, sexual identity, disability, and other marginalized identities. This broader focus prompted an institutional shift toward a more comprehensive equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) strategy.

Following an in-depth review, the task force prepared a report with 25 recommendations that included training, recruitment and funding opportunities, as well as a formal structure responsible for implementation of the recommendations. The Diversity and Leadership Committee was created to carry out these duties. The committee worked successfully for several years, but it became clear that leadership diversity efforts required both faculty-wide and department-specific approaches. As a result, the committee’s responsibilities transitioned into two distinct groups: the EDIA Leads group and the Anti-Oppression Subcommittee.   

“The EDIA Leads serves as a space for departments to coordinate their efforts, share best practices, and support EDIA work across clinical and basic science departments,” says Dr. Christy Simpson, former department head in the Department of Bioethics and co-chair of the EDIA Leads group. “It’s more of a community of practice rather than a formal committee. It brings together those doing EDIA work to support and learn from one another.”

The EDIA Leads group also provides input on faculty-wide initiatives, such as refining language and ensuring alignment with faculty needs for the recent updates to the anti-oppression policy.

The Anti-Oppression Subcommittee focuses on faculty-wide systemic change and ensures that anti-oppression principles are integrated into institutional policies and practices. Representation from across the faculty, as well as from the EDIA Leads group, allows for cross-communication and a broad institutional perspective.

“Both groups help departments understand their roles within both Dalhousie and the health authorities,” says Dr. O’Hearn. “Departments that excel in this work share best practices, which has been valuable in overcoming challenges.”  

Investing in leadership development

Another key recommendation from the task force was the creation of the Diversity and Leadership Fund. The first round of funding, distributed early in 2020 just before the pandemic, provided opportunities for recipients to attend conferences and complete training to enhance their leadership skills. 

“It’s challenging to quantify long-term impacts due to the pandemic, which disrupted many plans,” says Dr. Simpson, “but we have seen how these opportunities support career advancement.” 

For its second iteration, the Diversity in Leadership Fund application process has been streamlined to reduce administrative burden and encourage a wider range of applications. 

“We really want to reiterate it is for equity deserving group members and also for staff—not just for faculty,” says Dr. Simpson. “We also hope to encourage participation from DMNB and distributed sites.”

A lasting commitment to EDIA

The Faculty of Medicine has positioned itself as a leader in diversity and leadership development, with the Diversity in Leadership Fund being just one commitment made towards enhancing diversity in leadership and supporting EDIA initiatives.

“Not all universities have similar funding opportunities, and this sets an example for students,” says Dr. O’Hearn. “The Student Diversity and Inclusion Committee (SDIC) benefits from seeing institutional support at all levels, reinforcing that this work continues beyond medical school.”   

The presence of this support, from student-led initiatives like the SDIC, to faculty-wide policies and funding, signals a long-term commitment to systemic change. Their ongoing evolution ensures that equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility are not side projects but central components of leadership in medicine.  

Applications for this year’s Diversity in Leadership Fund are open until March 7. Faculty and staff across all Faculty of Medicine campuses and distributed sites who belong to one of the designated groups, including African Nova Scotian, Black, Indigenous, Métis, Inuit, persons with disabilities, women, and individuals of minority sexual orientations and/or gender identities, are encouraged to apply. 

Click here for more information or to apply.