ACCESSING HEALTH EQUITY
Finding GEMS
Evaluating SIR Foundation’s Grants for Education of Medical Students (GEMS) Program diversity and inclusion efforts By Vishal Kumar, MD, Alexandra Folleco, MPH(c); Victoria Palacios, MPH; Pooja Doshi, MPH, COA
to ease the financial burden of visiting clerkships. Over the years, it has provided the steadily increasing number of applicants with an online curriculum that introduces underrepresented medical students to the field of interventional radiology.
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SIR Foundation staff and GEMS program developers recently conducted an impact analysis of applicant and recipient demographics, to ensure that the GEMS Program continues supporting the IR community’s diversity and to expand for future participants.
Providing access to clerkships The GEMS Program was created and launched through a generous endowment from Alan H. Matsumoto, MD, FSIR, and his family, as well as from SIR Foundation’s corporate partners, Boston Scientific, Cook Medical, Penumbra Inc., Siemens Healthineers and W. L. Gore & Associates, who matched Dr. Matsumoto’s gift. Dr. Matsumoto continues to be a key supporter of the GEMS Program, as he makes a yearly donation. Other physicians such as Minhaj Khaja, MD,
36 IRQ | WINTER 2023
ince 2019, SIR Foundation’s Grants for Education of Medical Students (GEMS) Program has provided grants
When the GEMS Program was originally announced and launched in the spring of 2019, the thought was for the GEMS Scholars to receive funding to offset costs to participate in an IR externship and also start developing a broader social network of colleagues and mentors. When the pandemic arose, under the passionate and thoughtful leadership of Dr. Vishal Kumar and the SIR staff, a
virtual curriculum was developed and implemented. This new virtual curriculum was much more diverse and involved numerous faculty volunteers from around the country and well-exceeded the original in-person learning experience. The Scholars not only met and created special connections with each other, but they also had the chance to meet dozens of talented and nurturing faculty from both private practice and academics, while also having a more personalized experience and developing many more meaningful connections than could have ever been imagined with the initial iteration of the GEMS Program.
Since the inception of the program, 100% of the GEMS Scholars have matched into either a DR or IR Residency, and all of them have become mentors to the incoming GEMS scholars. The GEMS program has evolved into a community in which both the faculty and scholars are committed to promoting a culture of respect and “paying it forward” so that the diversity of the specialty of IR can become more reflective and better serve the needs of our patients.
To Dr. Kumar, SIR Foundation and staff who support this program, the faculty who give of themselves selflessly to educate and imbue a sense of community, our industry colleagues who have contributed funds to and are engaged in sustaining this program, those individuals who have donated to the program and our GEMS scholars, I want to say thank you for promoting a culture of diversity and inclusivity and strengthening the specialty of IR through differing perspectives.
I am inspired by and very appreciative of all of you. —Alan H. Matsumoto, MD, MA, FSIR
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