"IMPOWER council empowers us to be powerful agents of positive change in the DEI and wellbeing arena within our respective divisions in the Internal Medicine department. IMPOWER boldly tackles difficult issues that challenge wellness and DEI while systematically providing practical strategies to create a better tomorrow. IMPOWER nurtures strong commitment for a change backed up with ACTION. I am truly thrilled to be part of this trail blazer movement."
Veronica Nwagwu MD, CWSP
“DOIM embraces DEI and wellness with open arms, so it created IMPOWER as a platform for change and empowerment. IMPOWER is a safe haven to have difficult and uncomfortable conversations, bridge gaps, share best practices and find actionable plans to tackle issues and improve DEI and wellness. In relentless pursuit of excellence, IMPOWER will stand to make our department and our divisions a better version that is worth emulating. I am honored to serve in the IMPOWER Council where such maxim is exemplified.”
Nkiru Okammor, MS, BSN, RN
"The formation of the IMPOWER Council comes at time when our institution is facing great challenges in terms of diversity, equity, inclusion and wellness. It is an incredible privilege to be among my colleagues who are devoted to addressing these difficult, yet immensely important areas that deeply affect our faculty and staff. At this time, we are working on improving aspects of transparency, work/life balance and incremental work within our GI/Hep division. We are acknowledging and addressing these big issues from the perspective of a marathon, not a sprint and we’re making some progress with our strong, collective voices."
Megan Riehl, PsyD
“IMPOWER is empowering and supporting us to work on DEI and wellness issues locally in our divisions and globally in our department. These are critical, complex, and challenging issues to address. I appreciate IMPOWER’s respectful, thoughtful and informative discussions, the crowdsourcing of knowledge and resources, and the strong commitment to initiate change.”
Wendy R. Uhlmann, MS, CGC
“I believe that human resources are the most valuable resource an organization can have and must be treated as such. I believe that people who can show up to work as their best self will perform as their best self, and if we want that level of performance, we must catalyze the culture and environment that fosters that. The IMPOWER Council, facilitated by ODEW Leadership, brings about informative and sometimes challenging conversations which are quickly transformed into action plans for these pressing DEI + wellness needs. I am honored to be trusted by the administrative division to represent their voices and to serve with such a diverse and wonderful group of my colleagues to support this work in our department.”
Claire Wolniewicz
