Leveraging the Intersections of Our Social Identities in Order to Be Our Best Selves At Work and At Play

Facilitator: Douglass L. Jackson, DMD, MS, PhD, • Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Clinical Professor, Department of Oral Health Sciences University of Washington School of Dentistry, Seattle, WA, • Senior Consultant, The Byers Group LLC, Seattle, WA
Workshop Description: “Who we are, or who are seen to be, matters enormously” Richard Jenkins, 2004

We are the sum of our many social identities. Some of our social identities may seem rather mundane, even invisible to those around us, while others may be perceived as quite extraordinary. Some may even present us with challenges that those around us may or may not see. Attendees of this participatory session will do some self-exploration of their social identities, and by its conclusion they will:
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Understand and be more aware of how their many social identifies influence their everyday lives, including how they do their work at WSDA,
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Appreciate the power of bias, both conscious and unconscious, and how it can limit productivity and innovation in social and work settings,
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Understand how our social identities have helped form some of our biases, and
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Develop skills (and action plans) needed to mitigate such biases in situations where they could cause harm.

About Dr. Jackson: Understanding and eliminating health disparities has been an unwavering focus of Dr. Douglass Jackson’s professional work and community service for over 20 years. He has served as the Director of the Center for Diversity and Health Equity at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and before that as the Associate Dean and the Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service Endowed Professor for Educational Partnerships and Diversity at the University of Washington School of Dentistry. This continues in his current role as the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Washington School of Dentistry where he is focused on applying quality improvement strategies to identify and address factors that contribute to health inequities. In addition to focusing on inequities in healthcare quality and outcomes, he is also involved in work locally and nationally that is aimed at increasing the diversity of the health professions’ workforce and advocating for workplace climates in healthcare organizations that value inclusion, cultural and structural humility, and equity. Dr. Jackson has a long history of directing innovative programs created to eliminate the barriers faced by young people who come from economically, educationally, and socially disadvantaged backgrounds who are aspiring to become healthcare professionals. His career’s work has been funded by various organizations, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Health Services Resources Administration (HRSA), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Josiah Macy Foundation and the Arcora Foundation

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