Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Activities Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Uniqueness:

Cardiovascular Medicine is the most male dominated of the internal medicine specialties, and among the least diverse of all the specialties in academic medicine. Hence, I have been committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (celebrating belonging and uniqueness) as an excellence imperative in academic health sciences my entire career. In addition, I started my internship at Boston City Hospital in 1983 with a profound commitment to serve structurally disadvantaged and minoritized communities. I consider it a profound honor to work at a hospital (Boston City Hospital, now called Boston Medical Center) that promotes exceptional care without exception. In my national organizations, research and scientific publications, I have advocated to ensure that academic health sciences becomes more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, and that women, minoritized groups, social determinants of health are appropriately treated to eliminate workforce and health inequities.

Institutional and National Equity Awards
1995 - BUSM, Gender Equity Award, American Medical Women’s Association,
2012 - Association of Black Cardiologists Dr. Daniel D. Savage Memorial Science Award
2012 - American Heart Association, Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award, National Clinical Cardiology Council
2020 - Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award
2021 - National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health Team Member, $50,000 Enhancing Faculty Gender Diversity Prize awarded to Boston University

Institutional Roles Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (belonging and uniqueness), and Accessibility:

Boston University
Boston University Medical Campus, Leadership Roles
8/1/2015-present - Assistant Provost for Faculty Development, BUMC
4/1/2021-present - Associate Provost for Faculty Development, BUMC
2008-present - Vice Chair, Faculty Development and Diversity, Department of Medicine

BU Specific Committees
2015-2016 - Chair, Women’s Leadership Task Force
2019-present - Ex-Officio Member, Diversity + Inclusion Advisory Council
2017-present - Ex-Officio Member, Women’s Leadership Advisory Board

BU Specific Faculty Development Programs
2014-present - Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Career Development Program. Co-Founder, facilitator, since 2018, Advisor, 10-month longitudinal leadership and career development program for under-represented minority (URM) faculty members.
2016-present - Women’s Leadership Program founder, facilitator, and curriculum designer of 9-month longitudinal leadership and career development program for women faculty members.
2018-2020 - Bias Reduction in Internal Medicine, BRIM is an NIH sponsored randomized controlled trial of 19 U.S. internal medicine departments assessing if implementing a bias reduction workshop (https://brim.medicine.wisc.edu/), will improve departmental climate by addressing implicit bias among faculty members. Funded by 5R35GM122557 & by the BUSM Department of Medicine. Role: Site-PI and Certified Implementer, Breaking the Bias Habit®.
2021 - BUSM, Department of Medicine, LIFT, Microaggressions Bystander Training Trained the Trainer, and Co-Implementer of one hour workshop with vignettes to train faculty how to recognize and implement strategies to respectfully and effectively intervene when observing microaggressions.
2021-present - Louis W. Sullivan, MD, Academic Leadership Program for faculty underrepresented in health sciences. Co-Founder, facilitator.

National Roles Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility:

American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Leadership for Health & Workforce Equity
2003 - Conference Co-chair, Closed national conference “Discovering the Full Spectrum of Cardiovascular Disease - Addressing Ethnic Disparities”
2020-2022 - Member, Go Red For Women In Science & Medicine Subcommittee
2021-2022 - Member, AHA Research Committee Task Force on Sexual Harassment
2021-present - Member, Health Equity Science Strategic Oversight Task Force
2020-2021 - Writing Committee, AHA/ACC Professionalism and Ethics Conference, Task Force 2, Diversity and Inclusion
2021 - ACC’s, Health Policy Statement on Building Respect and Reducing Bullying and Harassment in Cardiovascular Medicine
2005 - Guest Editor, Circulation - Ethnic & Racial Disparities Themed Issue

Grants And Programs
2018-2024 - HHSN26818HV00006R (Correa). NIH/NHLBI. Jackson Heart Study Coordinating Center. NIH funded cohort study of African Americans in Jackson, MS. Dr. Benjamin is responsible for co-mentoring early career investigators in the development, analysis, writing and critical revision of abstracts and manuscripts. Role: Subcontract PI.
2012-2015 - American Council on Education, Leadership and Advocacy Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Awards for Faculty Career Flexibility. Multilevel Mentoring: BUSM Accelerator Plan, http://www.acenet.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/ProgramsServices/CEL/SloanAwards/sloanAwards4.htm. Role: PI.

Research
2003- Recruited the Framingham Heart Study’s Omni 2 cohort (NIH grant R01 HL076784). The cohort represents 410 diverse individuals—African American, Hispanic/LatinX, Asian individuals who participate in routine examinations every 6-7 years to advance knowledge of the epidemiology of cardiovascular, brain, and other diseases.

Invited National Talks
American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC)
2018 - AHA Research Committee. Addressing Unconscious Bias: Advancing AHA’s Mission and AHA’s Peer Review Processes
2019 - AHA Strategically Focused Research Network, National Webinar. “Implementing Strategies to Recognize and Mitigate Our Biases, And Become Effective Allies”
2019 - AHA Council Operations Committee. “Unconscious Bias: Becoming An Effective Ally”
2019 - AHA Council Operations Committee Diversity Summit, Dallas, TX. “Committing to Steps you Personally and COC/AHA can take to mitigate Implicit Bias and Advance Equity and Inclusion”
2020 - AHA Quality of Care & Outcomes Research, Virtual Conference in lieu of in person meeting – COVID-19 “Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace”
2020 - Association of University Cardiologists. Developments in Implicit Bias: Advancing Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Academic Cardiology. Marana, AZ
3/19/2021 - International Stroke Conference, Virtual Meeting. “Diversity and Inclusion in Stroke Science: An Expert Roundtable”
8/26/2021 - ACC 2021 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Monthly Webinar Series. Addressing Sexual Harassment in Cardiology: Starting the Conversation. Panelist

Universities
2020 - University of California San Francisco, School of Medicine, Admissions Review Committee Retreat “Implicit Bias: Confronting our Myths to Achieve Equity”
2020 - Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA Cardiology Grand Rounds: Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in 2020 to be ready for 2040
2/6/2021 - Virginia Commonwealth University, Heart Health in Women key note speaker, Virtual, Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging in Academic Health Sciences: Addressing Implicit Bias
5/27/2021 - University of Washington, Division of Cardiology, Locke Visiting Lecturer “Diversity 4.0. Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Cardiovascular Health Sciences

Publications: Atrial fibrillation and Cardiovascular Disease: Sex, Race, Social Determinants of Health
1. Benjamin EJ, Jessup M, Flack JM, Krumholz HM, Liu K, Nadkarni VM, Rhoades DA, Rodriguez BL, Scott RP, Taylor MP, Velazquez EJ, Winkleby MA. Discovering the full spectrum of cardiovascular disease: Minority Health Summit 2003: report of the Outcomes Writing Group. Circulation 2005;111:e124-e133.
2. Mosca L, Appel LJ, Benjamin EJ, Berra K, Chandra-Strobos N, Fabunmi RP, Grady D, Haan CK, Hayes SN, Judelson DR, Keenan NL, McBride P, Oparil S, Ouyang P, Oz MC, Mendelsohn ME, Pasternak RC, Pinn VW, Robertson RM, Schenck-Gustafsson K, Sila CA, Smith SC, Jr., Sopko G, Taylor AL, Walsh BW, Wenger NK, Williams CL. Evidence-based guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention in women. Circulation 2004;109:672-693.
3. Mosca L, Banka CL, Benjamin EJ, Berra K, Bushnell C, Dolor RJ, Ganiats TG, Gomes AS, Gornik HL, Gracia C, Gulati M, Haan CK, Judelson DR, Keenan N, Kelepouris E, Michos ED, Newby LK, Oparil S, Ouyang P, Oz MC, Petitti D, Pinn VW, Redberg RF, Scott R, Sherif K, Smith SC, Jr., Sopko G, Steinhorn RH, Stone NJ, Taubert KA, Todd BA, Urbina E, Wenger NK. Evidence-Based Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women: 2007 Update. Circulation 2007;115:1481-1501.
4. Mosca L, Benjamin EJ, Berra K, Bezanson JL, Dolor RJ, Lloyd-Jones DM, Newby LK, Pina IL, Roger VL, Shaw LJ, Zhao D, Beckie TM, Bushnell C, D'Armiento J, Kris-Etherton PM, Fang J, Ganiats TG, Gomes AS, Gracia CR, Haan CK, Jackson EA, Judelson DR, Kelepouris E, Lavie CJ, Moore A, Nussmeier NA, Ofili E, Oparil S, Ouyang P, Pinn VW, Sherif K, Smith SC, Jr., Sopko G, Chandra-Strobos N, Urbina EM, Vaccarino V, Wenger NK. Effectiveness-based guidelines for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in women--2011 update: a guideline from the American Heart Association. Circulation 2011;123:1243-62. PMID:21325087; PMC3182143.
5. Ko D, Rahman F, Schnabel RB, Yin X, Benjamin EJ, Christophersen IE. Atrial fibrillation in women: epidemiology, pathophysiology, presentation, and prognosis. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2016;13:321-32. PMID: 27053455
6. Ko D, Rahman F, Martins MA, Hylek EM, Ellinor PT, Schnabel RB, Benjamin EJ, Christophersen IE. Atrial fibrillation in women: treatment. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2017;14:113-124. PMID: 27786235. PMC5520636.
7. Volgman AS, Bairey Merz CN, Benjamin EJ, Curtis AB, Fang MC, Lindley KJ, Pepine CJ, Vaseghi M, Waldo AL, Wenger NK and Russo AM. Sex and Race/Ethnicity Differences in Atrial Fibrillation. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019;74:2812-2815. PMID 31779796.
8. Volgman AS, Benjamin EJ, Curtis AB, Fang MC, Lindley KJ, Naccarelli GV, Pepine CJ, Quesada O, Vaseghi M, Waldo AL, Wenger NK, Russo AM and American College of Cardiology Committee on Cardiovascular Disease in W. Women and atrial fibrillation. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2021;32:2793-2807. PMID 33332669. PMC8281363
9. Essien UR, Kornej J, Johnson AE, Schulson LB, Benjamin EJ and Magnani JW. Social determinants of atrial fibrillation. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2021. PMID 34079095.

Publications: Cardiovascular Workforce Equity
1. Schnabel RB and Benjamin EJ. Diversity 4.0 in the cardiovascular health-care workforce. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2020;17:751-753. PMID 33051612.
2. Benjamin IJ, Valentine CM, Oetgen WJ, Sheehan KA, Task F, Brindis RG, Roach WH, Jr., Harrington RA, Levine GN, Redberg RF, Broccolo BM, Hernandez AF, Task F, Douglas PS, Pina IL, Benjamin EJ, Coylewright MJ, Saucedo JF, Ferdinand KC, Hayes SN, Poppas A, Task F, Furie KL, Mehta LS, Erwin JP, 3rd, Mieres JH, Murphy DJ, Jr., Weissman G, West CP, Task F, Lawrence WE, Jr., Masoudi FA, Jones CP, Matlock DD, Miller JE, Spertus JA, Todman L, Task F, Biga C, Chazal RA, Creager MA, Fry ET, Mack MJ, Yancy CW and Anderson RE. 2020 American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology Consensus Conference on Professionalism and Ethics: A Consensus Conference Report. Circulation. 2021;143:e1035–e1087. PMID 33974449.

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