UCSF’s innovative, collaborative approach to patient care, research and education spans disciplines across the life sciences, making it a world leader in scientific discovery and its translation to improving health.
► The (Re)Defining Success: UCSF Graduate Student Experiences, Identity, and Community survey is now live! Learn more about this survey, and look out for a link in your UCSF email to participate.
► After a hiatus in the summer of 2020, our Summer Research Training Program is back in action! Students originally accepted for last summer’s cohort were invited to participate in computational workshops, gain lab experience, and receive mentorship from UCSF students and faculty. Learn more about SRTP.
► The IMSD Program welcomes our incoming cohort of 20 first-year graduate students, and welcomes back our second-year graduate students.
► The Graduate Division Dean’s Office received two DEI-related petitions from UCSF graduate students in 2020. See a timeline linking points in each petition to outcomes and initiatives. Further responses and milestones will be added over time as events and plans come to fruition.
The Graduate Division is committed to cultivating an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at UCSF. The following events and programs are aimed at administering DEI efforts in four key areas: community building, mentorship and advising, career and professional development, and campus climate. Please note that programming and events may be modified this year due to COVID-19.
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Programs
NIGMS/IMSD Fellows and Affiliates Program
The National Institute for General Medical Sciences Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (NIGMS/IMSD) Fellows and Affiliates Program at UCSF is designed to support historically underrepresented and marginalized PhD students in basic science graduates programs in their first two years of their studies. In addition to financial support for 18-21 students per year, IMSD fellows are offered a variety of professional development and social activities throughout the year. Funded by NIGMS and the Graduate Division.
Summer Research Training Program
UCSF’s major outreach program to recruit historically marginalized students to basic science PhD programs. Undergraduate students selected for the Summer Research Training Program (SRTP) spend up to 10 weeks working with UCSF faculty members on research projects. Participants in the program take part in seminars, lectures, and social events, creating a cohesive and supportive community. At the end of the program, students give presentations of their research and get valuable feedback from students, postdocs, and faculty at UCSF.
Annual Events
Annual Retreat in Community Building
Starting in the fall of 2020, all incoming first year PhD students will participate in mandatory sexual violence and harrassment and bullying training. Students will also engage in small-group sessions centered around restorative justice practices to establish the importance of creating a community of care during their program’s orientation. Restorative justice practices are philosophical and humanizing approaches that focuses on repairing harm, making things right, and restoring the community. Incorporating restorative justice practices into our work helps UCSF create safer spaces for people to be brave and vulnerable in an open dialogue that facilitates healing in the community. UCSF’s PRIDE (Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity, and Excellence) values are aligned within restorative justice practice.
At the end of these small-group discussions, students will:
Understand how personal values are related to their professional identity as scientists.
Understand the role of personal values in decision making.
Explore how values impact behavior (in communication, interactions, words and action) in a group.
Develop a written set of community expectations for the cohort.
Learn how to create space for active listening with empathy.
Develop awareness of ourselves and the way we interact with others.
These sessions will be led by staff facilitators with training in restorative justice practices.
This event will be hosted online in Fall 2020 due to COVID-19.
PhD Students Third-Year Reorientation
As a third-year student, you are moving into a new phase of PhD work, increasingly focused on independent research, career exploration, and changing dynamics in your working relationships. At the re-orientation, third-year students hear from senior students, become reacquainted with UCSF resources, and speak with students from across programs over breakfast. New for 2020: conversations about equity, inclusion, and identity will be highlighted.
Reunite: Diversity Soiree
The Graduate Division Dean's Office hosts an annual diversity celebration for all students and postdocs who have participated in our outreach and diversity initiatives, including IMSD, UCSF IRACDA, SF BUILD, and SRTP.
Creating Community: Building Resilience among Graduate Students and Postdocs
Adisa Anderson, PhD was the keynote speaker at the 2020 event.
The goal of this event is to build and celebrate a community of care to promote mental health and wellness among UCSF’s graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Self-care and seeking help for mental wellness are at a heightened state for members of the community, and especially among individuals from historically marginalized and underserved populations in health science. This event is an opportunity for members of the UCSF campus community to build allyship and foster a stronger sense of belonging. Co-sponsored by the Graduate Division Dean's Office, Student Health and Counseling Services, the Multicultural Resource Center, Office of Career and Professional Development, Associated Students of the Graduate Division, and the Office for Postdoctoral Scholars.
Black Unity Program
The Graduate Division offers quarterly social gatherings and activities to network, share experiences and resources, and build a stronger community for Black PhD students at UCSF.
International Pronouns Day
International pronouns day seeks to make asking, sharing, and respecting personal pronouns commonplace. Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity. Co-sponsored by the UCSF LGBT Resource Center, the Graduate Division, and other campus partners.
LGBT Community Social at SPARK
Community building social event for LGBT graduate students and postdocs, and allies at SPARK Social SF at Mission Bay.
Postdoc Pop-up Lunch
Community building lunch for postdoctoral scholars. Co-sponsored by the Graduate Division Dean's Office, Office for Postdoctoral Scholars, and UCSF IRACDA Scholars Program.
First Generation to College: Are you the first person in your family to graduate from college? The events below help build community and offer support and visibility for first generation (First Gen) to college students. All events are co-sponsored by the Graduate Division Dean's Office and UCSF First Generation Support Services.
First Gen Story Circle at Mission Bay What was your transition to graduate school and UCSF like? The First Gen Story Circle is an informal discussion group for UCSF first generation to college students. Make connections, share your experiences and learn to survive and thrive.
First Gen Paint night
Join other first generation to college graduate students for a night of community, wellness and art.
First Gen Welcome Dinner
Community building evening, featuring a keynote address by a first generation to college graduate student, faculty, staff or alumni, for graduate students who are first generation to college.
Training, Education, and Professional Development
Racism in Science (GRAD 202)
Fall 2020 | Faculty Instructor: Aimee Medeiros, PhD, MA, MPH | Graduate Student Instructor: Antoine Johnson, History of Health Science PhD Candidate
This introductory course provides the historical background of systemic racism in scientific research. It explores the relationship between notions of race and science and how scientific research has been informed by and perpetuates anti-Black racism. This course also examines the impact of bias and a lack of diversity in science and ways in which to address these deficiencies. Students will learn the principles of social justice-oriented scientific research and its potential.
Course Objectives:
Execute the principles of social justice-oriented scientific research.
Decipher how scientific research can endorse racial inequalities.
Identify specific historical examples of anti-Black racism in scientific research.
Distinguish how the historical relationship between the white supremacy campaign in the United States and scientific medicine influences contemporary scientific research.
Analyze how implicit bias and lack of diversity undermine science.
The goal of this course is to bring together training in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and leadership to prepare UCSF graduate students to incorporate DEI values in scientific leadership roles. DEI training is typically offered ad-hoc, as separate from scientific and professional training, making it difficult to integrate DEI values into current and future leadership roles, such as leaders of research teams and labs. This course will offer an opportunity for graduate students to gain competence in DEI concepts and values and, importantly, to practice applying these concepts.
Research on Racism in Science Mini-Courses (GRAD 219)
Spring 2021| Graduate Student Instructors: Antoine Johnson, Rashon Lane, Carlos Martinez
These mini-courses will be taught by UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellows (Social and Population Sciences PhD students). For more information about what courses are being offered in Spring 2021, visit the course page.
Responsible Conduct of Research (GRAD 214)
Summer 2021| Faculty Instructor: Elizabeth Silva, PhD
Issues of diversity, equity, and anti-Black racism are discussed in one lecture of this 8-session course. First-year graduate students are introduced to anti-Black racism, diversity, and equity, and its social impacts on scientific research, both within the lab environment and the larger scientific community. First-year graduate students will explore and reflect on how anti-Black racism is seen in their scientific and personal communities. In 2020, this session was co-developed by D'Anne Duncan, PhD, and Elizabeth Watkins, PhD.
Equity and Inclusion in the Lab
Each of these two-hour workshops provides an opportunity for faculty, postdocs, and students to have an open, honest, empathic, constructive, and productive dialogue about equity and inclusion. These workshops cover topics of intersectionality of identity, implicit bias, and cognitive dissonance. The major focus of the November 2019 session was microaggressions – what they are, how they can have profound impacts on members of our community, and methods to respond to microaggressions in a respectful manner. This workshop is facilitated by Dr. Carlos Hoyt. Sponsored by the Graduate Faculty Development Program, in collaboration with Dr. D’Anne Duncan.
Pronouns Workshop
Mistaking or assuming peoples' pronouns without asking first sends a harmful message. Using someone's correct gender pronouns is one of the most basic ways to show your respect for their identity. This workshop aims to advance the knowledge of using correct gender pronouns and to strive for a more inclusive environment at UCSF.
Trans Day of Visibility
In honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility, the Graduate Queer Alliance, in collaboration with the Gladstone Institutes and the UCSF LGBT Resource Center, hosts a panel event wherein accomplished scientists discuss their research and how it relates to better understanding the biology of gender and health disparities in the transgender community. Panelists talk about their experiences navigating a career in science, challenges faced by transgender people in science and academia, and how to support the trans community in your daily life.
Out in the Workplace
In collaboration with the Graduate Division, Office of Career and Professional Development, and the LGBT Resource Center, PhD students and postdocs learn the importance of gender identity and pronouns in the lab environments. This workshop is still under development due to COVID-19.
Out in Science
Being a member of the queer community can shape your path in any profession. Every person’s experience is based on the combination of their uniquely different backgrounds (race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status), and the sum of these identities presents its own set of challenges and opportunities. This event offers stories from LGBTQIA+ panelists and aims to inspire us to make the sciences a more inclusive environment for everyone.
Shame Resilience for Graduate Students and Postdocs
Being a scientist requires a tremendous amount of resilience. Experiments fail, papers get rejected. We struggle to communicate effectively with our supervisors and peers, and establishing healthy work-life boundaries can be a challenge. This workshop addresses the underlying impact that shame, embarrassment, and guilt have on PhD students and postdocs during their training and helps attendees learn skills to combat these challenges.
On-Campus Recruitment
Diversity and Allyship Breakfasts
The Graduate Division Dean's Office and the UCSF SACNAS Chapter co-host these yearly breakfasts during PhD recruitment weekends. Graduate students and the diversity dean serve as panelists to discuss the climate at UCSF, and campus DEI resources, such as the IMSD program, are highlighted. Over the past few years, these breakfasts have been re-imagined by Tetrad alum Joselyn Del Cid, Biomedical Sciences alum Raul Torres, Biomedical Sciences alum Melissa Spear, Biomedical Sciences PhD Candidate Ramiro Patiño, Tetrad PhD Candidate Robert Efraín Díaz, and Assistant Dean for Diversity and Learner Success, Dr. D'Anne Duncan.
Diversity Network Initiative
Launched in 2018, the Diversity Network Initiative aims to connect current and prospective PhD students from similar backgrounds to build a professional network and community, share experiences, and provide insight into diversity and inclusion at UCSF. Currently, seven basic science graduate programs participate in the Diversity Network Initiative, including: Tetrad, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, the Medical Scientist Training Program, Neuroscience, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics. Contact Dr. D'Anne Duncan if you'd like your graduate program to participate. This program was developed by Tetrad PhD Candidate, Roberto Efraín Díaz, and Dr. D'Anne Duncan.
The Graduate Division is committed to providing programming and support for historically underrepresented and historically marginalized students in science. Research indicates numerous reasons why underrepresented and historically marginalized students continue to be excluded from scientific careers (Gibbs and Marsteller, 2017). Education research, funded by the NIGMS Initiative to Maximize Student Development grant, is being conducted by the Graduate Division to better understand factors of identity and belonging in order to improve the campus environment for historically marginalized students. This research will directly inform how different interventions are developed to improve the PhD experience for historically marginalized students, and this work may extend to postdoctoral researchers.
(Re)Defining Success: UCSF Graduate Student Experiences, Identity, and Community Survey (Launching June 2021)
The team and history
The (Re)Defining Success: UCSF Graduate Student Experiences, Identity, and Community survey began in 2018 when D’Anne Duncan, Arianne Teherani, and Elizabeth Watkins applied for a grant to support an expanded effort of the NIGMS funded IMSD Fellows and Affiliates program. They proposed the development of an evaluation plan that a) determines how URM and not-URM students’ educational experiences and scientific and organizational identity formation contribute positively to their achievement, commitment, and career choice and b) provides guidance for institutions in designing and implementing graduate education and support programs. Jhia Jackson, a sociology candidate with a history of advocacy within the graduate division and an interest in diversity work, was recruited in the summer of 2020 to support the development of the instrument and analysis of the pilot project. Other members of the Graduate Division are now involved for the recruitment, analysis, and evaluation stages of the pilot.
Why should I participate?
Although the primary focus is on URM students, it is crucial that the data collection and analysis include both URM and not-URM students in order to understand the experiences that contribute to the success of all students. After conducting cognitive interviews with diverse students of different race/ethnicities, genders, disability status, years, and programs, it became clear to the research team that the URM classifications may not always reflect the lived experiences of UCSF students. Your participation helps us better understand the unique experiences of UCSF graduate students during their complex journey of (re)defining success through ongoing development of personal and professional identities in a variety of UCSF experiences.
Ok, I’m in! So what’s the plan?
In June 2021, three cohorts of basic science doctoral students will receive an individual survey link: a) those who have just completed their first year, b) those who have advanced to candidacy between Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, and c) those who have submitted for graduation between Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. Data collection and analysis of this pilot data will be complete and reported out in Fall 2021.
Faculty-Student Diversity Committee
This group of graduate students and faculty work together to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, focusing on recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations in science. The Faculty-Student Diversity Committee meets once per quarter.
Faculty-Dean's Office Task Force
This group of faculty and Graduate Division Dean's Office staff will specifically focus on understanding DEI goals and strategies and identifying gaps at the institutional levels in the Graduate Division. View the meeting notes of the faculty-dean's office task force. *Note: As of October 21, 2020, this Task Force has been dissolved. Recommendations were identified and they will be included in the work being completed by the Student-Faculty Task Force.
activities throughout the year. Funded by NIGMS and the Graduate Division.
What was your transition to graduate school and UCSF like? The First Gen Story Circle is an informal discussion group for UCSF first generation to college students. Make connections, share your experiences and learn to survive and thrive. 
