Role model Rashmi Kusurkar

Who?

"As an ethnic minority, you still have to work at least twice as hard." Rashmi Kusurkar, associate professor and research program leader for education research, received her medical degree in native India with a specialization in Physiology and taught medical students there at the University of Mumbai. In 2008, she moved to the Netherlands and did her PhD at UMC Utrecht. "My work experience as a teacher was completely marginalized by some people in education. As if teaching in India was something completely different. Nonsense of course. And in my experience, students are actually the same everywhere. Because of my background, I am also convinced that I can bring something extra here. That is also the feedback I get from my students at the Faculty of Medicine, Vrije Universiteit. For example, our own research has shown that medical students from ethnic minority backgrounds miss people with whom they can identify. Not surprisingly, within the teaching staff at Amsterdam UMC, I am one of the few lecturers of color. While diversity during studies and later in the workplace are essential for being able to deliver the best healthcare for all."

Specialty?

"Within VUmc, I set up Team Research of Education in 2012. With my team, I conduct research on motivation in education. How can we motivate students to become lifelong learners, especially in the health professions? Our team wants to understand how we can develop students for life: intrinsically motivated students who want to make a lasting investment in their professional development. Why do some students manage to be the best they can be while others are satisfied with a six? Studies must be designed to bring out the right motivation in all students. Important conditions: students must be given autonomy, influence the pace and sequence of the education, receive feedback on their competencies and skills and be emotionally involved with the education, fellow students and teachers."

Most proud?

"Incredibly important to me is the support research on fairer student selection that is currently being conducted by our team. Our research shows that female candidates, candidates without a migration background, candidates with at least one BIG-registered parent and candidates with at least one parent belonging to the most affluent 10 percent of the Dutch population have a considerably higher chance of being admitted to a medical study program. As a result, the current population of medical students in the Netherlands is not a good reflection of society. While diversity during studies and later in the workplace is essential for providing the best healthcare for all. In order to provide appropriate care that everyone feels comfortable with, it is important that healthcare organizations take for example cultural or socioeconomic differences into account. But if the people around you all come from the same kind of nest, as a student you don't learn how to deal with those differences. Diversity in the lecture hall also leads to better education and later, in the workplace, to better care and research and better results within teams. Because they become more innovative, more creative and better at solving problems." That's why Kusurkar's team, in collaboration with other faculty, is currently conducting a support survey of four forms of Widening Access policies. "Policies that aim to select from the applicant pool students who collectively do reflect the diversity in society."

Amsterdam UMC goes for diverse and inclusive. Good examples of inclusive collaboration within Amsterdam UMC?

Buddies breaking barriers, set up by Anouk Wouters associate professor in my team, is a great example of an inclusive Amsterdam UMC project. This is a buddy system for diversity promotion in the medical school. A diverse student group and physician population are crucial to the training climate and to providing good and inclusive healthcare. However, as I mentioned earlier, there is currently a lack of sufficient diversity in medical education. Role models are important in attracting a diverse student body. In this project, medical students attend high schools with a high proportion of "non-traditional" students. Part of the project is a buddy system in which medical students accompany school students interested in studying medicine prior to, during and after the selection process.
Colleague Petra Verdonk, associate professor of gender & diversity in medicine, should also be included in this list of good examples. Thanks to her, a lot of attention is being paid to cultural and other aspects of diversity in medical training. Among other things, Verdonk set up the interculturalization and diversity curriculum. Students receive training in intercultural competencies and teachers are coached in providing diversity-sensitive education."

Where are the opportunities?

"From students to patients to employees, Amsterdam UMC is a true melting pot. And all those people with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds have their own way of living, eating, working, thinking, doing, doctoring, being sick and dying. Totally fine. Right? Diversity in the workplace can only have added value if differences are truly allowed to exist. Now it sometimes seems that employees are not allowed to deviate too much from, for example, the norm in order to stand out positively and thus have a chance of promotion. A modest appearance, which can be explained by someone's cultural background, is quickly perceived as a lack of initiative or leadership skills. In the Indian culture, on the other hand, it is not normal to talk a lot about yourself to make your work visible. Indian people believe that if you do a good job, visibility will follow automatically. In the Dutch culture, people tend to think "if you don't say it out loud, you didn't do it. Such a difference can be detrimental to employees from a more collectivist culture when evaluating for a promotion. Therefore, in the educational environment and in the workplace, a culture must be created in which students and employees can discuss these kinds of differences. An atmosphere in which people are willing to look at things from different angles, and are willing to make the effort to delve into someone else's perspective. That perspective goes beyond gender and origin; it is also about being introverted or extroverted, open or closed, organized or more spontaneous. So about what moves people with different personalities and what they need. Ultimately, an inclusive environment means that everyone is allowed to be themselves and does not feel compelled to hide or adapt to being different. Only then can you harness the talents of all employees."

Do you have any questions for Rashmi or would you like to know more about diversity & inclusion within Amsterdam UMC. If so, please email diversiteit@amsterdamumc.nl

Text: Sophie Verschoor