Dr. Anita Malone joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) in 2014 and has served as a clinical educator, mentor, role model, and most importantly, a leader in her role as the Associate Program Director of the Residency Program.
Dr. Malone has been an instrumental leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts through her support of education at all levels, both in the department of OB/GYN and at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her commitment to these efforts often extends beyond the traditional workday and confines of the hospital or classroom. Dr. Malone provides individual mentorship to several students who are historically underrepresented in medicine during her personal time. This includes both career counseling as well as academic and life coaching. She has immersed diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in our department’s residency preparation courses and residency curriculum. Similarly, she has done the same for the OB/GYN CORE curriculum for residents, including updating lectures and inviting lecturers to present on various topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her organization and implementation of the Health Equity Rounds, a means of discussing department quality of care issues with a focus on how race, gender, sexual orientation, or ableism may have influenced one’s care and clinical experience, touches upon all clinicians (i.e., medical students, nurses, residents, and faculty). This is all in addition to ensuring that the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion are incorporated and addressed during department journal clubs and other educational offerings, enhancing resident education and recruitment.
Over her four-year tenure as the Associate Program Director for OB/GYN, she has played an instrumental role in reducing bias in the recruiting process by eliminating known biased assessments and letters of recommendation from our evaluation process. She has also encouraged and engaged faculty and residents to reach out and provide additional information for residency applicants that are historically underrepresented in medicine.