Welcome to the Alliance for Visible Diversity in Science!

We focus on one central mission- to increase visible diversity within the Graduate Studies programs at Oregon Health and Science University by recruiting, retaining, and most importantly, supporting graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, staff, and faculty members from underrepresented backgrounds. 

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​A snapshot of why active racial inclusion is important:

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January Newsletter

Refer to Calendar for details

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AVDS volunteers at Potluck in the Park (2017) AVDS is celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King and you’re invited! Learn about Dr. Martin Luther King at an AVDS-hosted movie night! We’ll be showing the new HBO documentary ‘King in the Wilderness’ (2018), which details the last and most challenging, years of Dr. King's life on Thursday, January 17 from 4:30 - 6:30 PM in the Student Center Media Room. Food and drinks will be provided. All are welcome! Honor Dr. Martin Luther King through community service with AVDS! We’ll be serving meals to those in need at Potluck in the Park on Sunday, January 20th. There are a limited number of volunteer slots available - please email beeson@ohsu.edu by January 14th to reserve a spot. What: MLK Movie Night When: Thurs, Jan 17th 4:30 - 6:30 PM Where: Student Center Media Room What: Potluck in the Park MLK Day Volunteering When: Sun, Jan 20th (RSVP by Jan 14th) Where: TBA OHSU's WERG and BERG Present: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The OHSU Women's Employee Resource Group and Black Employee Resource Group are hosting a presentation and discussion on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. From the event flyer: "In 1951, a young African American woman named Henrietta Lacks visited The Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment for cervical cancer. Without her knowledge or consent, a sample of her tissue was taken. This sample, known as HeLa cells and used by hundreds of thousands of scientists and physicians worldwide, had major implications for several important research breakthroughs in the last half of the 21st century. HeLa cells contributed to breakthroughs surrounding the parvo virus, cancer treatments, and perhaps most widely known, they were used by Dr. Jonas Salk in the development of the polio vaccine. Henrietta Lacks died less than eight months after her cancer diagnosis and was buried in an unmarked grave. While her cells contributed to countless medical and scientific innovations, earning profits for research and pharmaceutical companies, her family lived in poverty not far from The Johns Hopkins Hospital. The story took another turn with the 2010 publication of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. What were the ethical and moral dilemmas of taking Mrs. Lacks’ cells without her permission? What, if anything, was owed to her family?" WERG & BERG have also taken the time to compile a list of book, podcast, and video materials regarding the life of Henrietta Lacks here. Please contact Kathryn Goforth at goforth@ohsu.edu with any questions. What: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Presentation & Discussion When: Monday, Jan 28th | 12:00 - 1:00 PM Where: BICC 124 Wikipedia Editathon: The Visibility Project "Wikipedia has become a valuable crowdsourced resource for education and awareness and has the potential to empower a diverse community to participate in the creation of an effective reference tool. Unfortunately, Wikipedia’s editors do not reflect the diversity and richness of the world (for example over 80% of the editors are male) and reviewing the content reveals unconscious and systemic bias. There is a significant amount of data that is missing --- women and people of color are significantly under-represented, and missing pages often correlate with individuals and issues affecting marginalized and vulnerable communities. Calling all librarians, researchers, students and educators, artists, technologists, community groups, historians, and activists to help us make Wikipedia a more vibrant, representative, inclusive and diverse resource supporting their vision of "collecting and sharing knowledge that fully represents human diversity." On January 19, join us to learn the basics of creating and editing a Wikipedia entry, and add a page (or 5) to reveal the invisible content that reflects the entirety of human diversity. Bring 1 to 5 topics, people, events that you'd like to make visible (women in science, pages about native communities in Oregon, activists, community organizers, and entrepreneurs in Portland's history, pages in other languages, ...) and bring your questions." --MAKE+THINK+CODE More information and registration What: Wikipedia Editathon When: Jan 19th | 10:00 - 2:30 PM Where: Make+Think+Code@PNCA 511 Northwest Broadway Portland, OR 97209 OHSU Happenings OHSU Climate Survey The deadline for the survey is today, January 4th. This survey is an opportunity for AVDS members to voice their concerns about the academic and work environment at OHSU. AVDS has used responses to the previous climate survey to advocate for improved programming at OHSU. Therefore, we encourage AVDS members to fill out the survey. You should have received an email with a link to the survey, and a personalized token required to access the 10-15 minute survey. Unconscious Bias Initiative Participating in this training is a very simple way for you to engage in creating a culture of inclusivity on campus. CDI will send out a newsletter updating OHSU on their progress every two months. If you haven’t been instructed to sign up yet, we recommend that you fill out an inquiry form available here for your department, lab, or other group. CDI will then contact the administrator or ambassador to arrange training. Unconscious Bias Training Signup (O2) Lucille Moore Thesis Defense AVDS co-founder and NGP student Lucille Moore is defending her thesis on January 11th at 2PM in the Vollum Auditorium! Come out and show your support! OpenCon Cascadia is now open for registration! OpenCon Cascadia is coming to Portland, Oregon! Join us February 1st and 2nd, 2019, to make scholarship more open, inclusive, and accessible. It is the mission of OpenCon Cascadia to create a collaborative community, spanning all disciplines, domains, and research communities. Together, we want to build a regional coalition of students, researchers, educators, and librarians passionate about improving research, academic culture, and access to scholarship. Come to OpenCon Cascadia to participate in energizing conversations, imagine solutions, network and form collaborations, and contribute to game-changing projects related to open access, open education, and open data. We are also excited to announce our keynote speakers: Dr. Kadija Ferryman and Dr. Leslie Chan. Register now: https://openconcascadia.eventbrite.com. In order to ensure that registration cost isn't a barrier to participation, attendees can choose to register for free, $5, or $10. For those that are able to contribute, we appreciate your help in making OpenCon Cascadia an affordable and accessible event. OpenCon Cascadia February 1-2, 2019 OHSU Robertson Life Sciences Building Contact us with questions or ideas at openconcascadia@gmail.com Women in Science WIS Talks @ Guilder - Engaging Girls in Science "Join WIS PDX and OMSI staff to learn how to better engage girls in science! Building on the work of Designing Our World, a National Science Foundation-sponsored project aimed at increasing girls’ interest in engineering careers, this workshop will help participants see how implicit bias can affect girls and steps we can take to counteract it. We will share evidence-based strategies to better engage underrepresented youth in STEM, providing anyone who works with youth concrete ways to improve their programs and facilitation. " This event is free to attend, but please register in advance as space is limited. What: WIS Talks @ Guilder Engaging Girls in Science When: Tuesday, Jan 29th | 6:00 - 8:00 PM Where: Guilder Cafe | 2393 NE Fremont St | Portland 97212 Mentor Program Interested in being mentored or becoming a mentor? Our new Mentor Program will connect women at different stages of their STEM careers in the Portland area to support the careers of a wide range of women and girls in the Pacific Northwest. Email Allison (allison.schaser@womeninsciencepdx.org) to get involved! More information We have donation page on our website now! If you want to support our cause, please consider donating! Any amount helps! a4vdis.weebly.com/donate.html The Alliance for Visible Diversity in Science AVDS Event Calendar Follow us on Twitter! About AVDS update your preferences | unsubscribe from this list

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What I have learned from these experiences about surviving as an underrepresented minority in the sciences is that many such students do not take proactive steps to reach out, seek help, and get answers to concerns they have. They wait for someone to come to them. But they must learn how to reach out in order to survive. For institutions, creating a culture of inclusion and a space for these students to air their thoughts is a great help."

​​– Erich Jarvis, Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center