Outcomes From a Novel Graduate Medical Education Leadership Program in Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Leadership Development
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Background:

• Academic medicine requires increased leadership diversity from underrepresented groups.
• Longitudinal programs can build leadership and scholarship capacity in DEI.
• The Leadership Education in Advancing Diversity (LEAD) program was developed to address this need.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the creation, satisfaction, and feasibility of the LEAD Program.
• To evaluate changes in scholars' self-efficacy, behavior, and DEI scholarship outputs.
• To assess the impact of mentorship and peer support on leadership development.

Main Methods:

• A 10-month longitudinal, single-institution program for graduate medical education (GME) residents and fellows.
• Assessed self-efficacy, behavior change, and program satisfaction via retrospective pre-/post-surveys.
• Measured scholarship by tracking workshops presented and publications developed by scholars.

Main Results:

• 75 trainees completed the program, with 99% completing surveys.
• Statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy for all learning objectives were observed.
• Scholars produced workshops and publications, citing mentorship and peer support as key benefits.

Conclusions:

• The LEAD Program is an innovative and feasible GME-wide model.
• It effectively improves resident and fellow self-efficacy in DEI scholarship and leadership.
• The program fosters valuable mentorship and peer connections for diverse trainees.