Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

My role in the Department and School is as a basic science educator. Throughout my teaching activities, I highlight topics focused on equity with respect to gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, and other marginalized identities. For example, I developed a health equity curriculum with a basis in the understanding of human genetic variation. By beginning with this
foundational content and extending into the applied realms of inclusion in genetics research and genetic testing, I help students see the potential harms that result when antiracist practices are not implemented from the outset of a given endeavor. Through my extensive work in diversity, equity, and inclusion, I have also become a champion for our campus antiracism and gender and sexual diversity efforts in curricular design, admissions, recently through my affiliation with the Ibram X. Kendi Center for Antiracist Research, and currently as Assistant Dean of Diversity & Inclusion. Our antiracist curriculum reform process are featured in a 2022 article in Academic Medicine, on which I am senior author, and I am also engaged in curricular reform efforts focused on sexual and gender minorities as well as disability. Nationally, I am the Past-President of the Association of Professors of Human and Medical Genetics, an organization that brings together clinical genetics educators across North America. When I was President and currently as Chair of DEI, an important area of focus for me has been giving our community of educators the tools to create inclusive, antiracist educational spaces. Towards this end, I have been publishing, sponsoring workshops, creating shared curricula, and providing consultation for colleagues engaged in equity projects at their institutions. I have also been working to further efforts in inclusive genetics education and practice via my involvement in initiatives through key partner organizations. For example, I was recently invited to speak to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health on the topic of equity in genomic medicine. Similarly, I served as an expert panelist for the Race, Genetic Ancestry, and Disease Risk session in the University of California, San Francisco UC-wide virtual event series on Racism and Race: The Use of Race in Medicine and Implications for Health Equity. My work on the impact of bias towards individuals with disabilities on genetic testing practices was also featured in the 2021 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Symposium sponsored by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. In addition, I am serving on the Advisory Board of the Human Genetics Scholars Initiative, a program sponsored by the American Society of Human Genetics that seeks to diversify the scientific workforce. Finally, I was in conversation with Angela Saini, author of Superior: The Return of Race Science, in a special seminar broadcast nationally by the National Human Genome Research Institute in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many others, and we will also be appearing at the Boston Museum of Science in a public-facing event in August 2025.

In February 2025, I published a book titled Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins: Lessons on Belonging from Our DNA with the University of California Press. The LSE Review of Books wrote that, "In an era where genetic discourse is increasingly shaping public perceptions of identity, Dasgupta emphasises a crucial reminder that biology is never neutral." Now that the book is out, my energy is going into trying to get this book into the hands of as many readers as possible, from non-scientists to course adoptions, by speaking in seminar series and conferences, joining podcast and radio interviews, and writing op-eds.

These selected activities demonstrate the breadth of my commitment to the causes of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This work of justice embodies both my professional and personal values and motivates me on a daily basis as an area of critical importance for the health and well-being of our society.

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In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

administration
genetics
genomics
graduate education
medical education
diversity, equity, and inclusion

Available to Mentor as: (Review Mentor Role Definitions):

• Advisor
• Career Mentor
• Diversity Mentor
• Education Mentor
• Research / Scholarly Mentor