Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Heart of Occupational and Environmental MedicineAcross the healthcare industry, an acknowledged overdue emphasis has been placed on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). From the origin of this specialty, occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) has championed diverse and underrepresented (URM) workers’ illnesses and injuries, says Robert Goldberg, MD, FACOEM, of San Francisco. “Immigrants have often done the most dangerous work, with the highest exposures, going back 130 years,” says Goldberg. “Other medical specialties are in some ways disparate newcomers to this, but we have always recognized that people of diverse backgrounds don’t appear in clinical studies as often and have poorer outcomes when they respond differently to treatments, medications, and the lack of diversity within the ranks of physicians in general.” Goldberg, an occupational medicine specialist and consultant, is past president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) as well as of the Western Occupational and Environmental Medical Association (WOEMA), where he’s a member of the Justice, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. The organization’s member states are California, Nevada, Hawaii, Utah, and Arizona. |