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Progress Notes' Diversity Essay Contest

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In 1963, after being arrested during a civil rights protest in one of the most segregated cities in America, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” shedding light upon the disparities undergirding our institutions and calling for action. Dr. King was a visionary who devoted his life to combating injustice. In honor of Dr. King’s legacy and in the midst of recent events exposing the continued disenfranchisement of marginalized populations, we recognize that we must take a stand against injustice as current and future medical providers and scientists.

Progress Notes, the student magazine of Baylor College of Medicine, put out a call for narrative reflections on diversity in medicine and the biomedical sciences. This student-led project is co-sponsored by the Office of Community Engagement & Health Equity. All submissions were subsequently reviewed by the DEI Awards Subcommittee of Baylor’s Inclusion and Excellence Council which decided upon categorical winners based on various criteria including consideration of originality, effectiveness, and construction.

Here are this year’s winning entries:

  • Faculty Category: Dr. Carmella Caldwell, Family & Community Medicine - “Inside the life of a black physician"  
  • Staff Category: Catherine Domingo, research administration associate with the Translational Research Institute for Space Health at Baylor College of Medicine - "Forging a New Path for Diversity in Outer Space”

The editorial board of Progress Notes and the Office of Community Engagement & Health Equity wish to thank all the students, trainees, faculty and staff who submitted an essay for consideration, as well as the Inclusion and Excellence Council, Office of Communications and Community Outreach, and others who helped this project come to fruition.