Since joining Johns Hopkins Children's Center’s faculty in 2016, pediatric hospitalist Marquita Genies has advocated for and supported students and trainees from groups traditionally marginalized from medicine, including people of color, those in the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities.
Now she is extending her reach as the inaugural assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) for graduate medical education and postdoctoral affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The position builds on momentum from Genies’ past work, which included creating the peer mentoring structure in the Harriet Lane Pediatric Residency Program, which matches those from underrepresented groups with trainees and faculty members from similar backgrounds.
“One thing that’s often a huge barrier to getting historically marginalized trainees interested in working at a place like Hopkins is the trainees trying to figure out, ‘Is this a place where I’ll belong? Is this a place where I’ll be supported and fit in?’” Genies says. “So how do we give students a taste or look of what that will be like?”
As associate program director of the Harriet Lane program, Genies has helped draw a more diverse pool of trainees to Johns Hopkins — by upping face time at recruitment fairs, hosting more open houses and strengthening relationships with historically Black colleges and universities. When she first started this work, she says, only 9% of Johns Hopkins pediatric residents were from underrepresented groups. Three years later, the percentage was 25%.
Genies is also committed to raising awareness across Johns Hopkins on health inequities and how they impact patient care and outcomes. Racism, Medicine and Our Community, a virtual training session she developed, won her a 2021 Spotlight in Education honor from the Association of Pediatric Program Directors.
Genies says her advocacy and her clinical work as a pediatric hospitalist merge to achieve the same goals.
“I’m still passionate about working with my patients and families, and all the work I’m doing in diversity, equity and inclusion is rooted in that,” she says. “To provide the best care possible to as many people as possible, we need a more diverse workforce that’s better educated on health inequities and how to confront them. That’s what I’m reaching toward.”
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