Inaugural Achievements
The CGA-IGC Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee has achieved a great deal during its inaugural year. In collaboration with the Education Committee, health equity focused journals have been added to CGA-IGC’s journal scans. Additionally, in conjunction with the Communications & Membership Committee, the DEI Committee spearheaded a DEI focused hashtag (#CGA_DEI) to highlight DEI in cancer genetics on the @CGAIGC twitter. Furthermore, we created a health equity submission category for the 2021 Annual Meeting and led a community focused DEI session alongside providers and patient advocates.
What to Expect in 2022
We look forward to the upcoming year as we plan a number of exciting programs:
Offering a Spanish-language based webinar in collaboration with the Education Committee
Adding an LGTBQIA+ cultural competency training resource page to the CGA-IGC website. The included resource links will provide access to robust and comprehensive training modules that clinical staff and providers can complete and use towards CME/CEU and HEI credits.
Actively expanding our membership demographic questions to capture the diversity of the CGA-IGC membership
Additionally, the DEI Committee continues to assist with planning of the 2022 Annual Meeting in finding accomplished speakers from diverse backgrounds to create a highly informative and inclusive conference.
The DEI Committee is excited to have exceptional new members to help us accomplish these projects. Lauren Gima, MS, CGC is a certified and licensed cancer genetic counselor at City of Hope in Duarte, CA. Her primary research interests are in hereditary GI cancer syndromes. Charles Muller, MD is a gastroenterology faculty member at Northwestern Medicine and has been a CGA-IGC member since 2018 including as a member of Communications & Membership Committee. His clinical and research interests are in cancer risk assessment in diverse populations. Amie Blanco, MS, CGC, is a genetic counselor and director of the cancer genetic and prevention and hereditary cancer programs at UCSF. She has spent the majority of her clinical career caring for patients at risk for hereditary GI cancers. She is also the parent of a mixed-race child on the autism spectrum and has experience in building connections to foster inclusion and anti-racism.