Fred Hutch recommits to DEI amid national backlash

With diversity, equity and inclusion efforts under siege at many private and public institutions, Fred Hutch Cancer Center stands out for its early, authentic, substantial and enduring commitment — and should say so loudly.

That was the call to action at the 2024 Fred Hutch Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Summit — Aligning our Actions for Critical Change — held June 6 at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront.

“So many leaders are walking back their investments in diversity, equity and inclusion,” said keynote speaker Shaun Harper, PhD, founder and CEO of the USC Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California. “Now is not the time to hide what you are doing or walk back the commitment.” 

The summit brought together colleagues from all major Fred Hutch divisions, along with guests from the University of Washington Office of Health Equity, Life Science Washington, Seattle Children’s Theater and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Nearly 200 attended in person and 753 watched the livestream, with participants joining together to celebrate, discuss and inspire one another despite the spread of misinformation about what DEI is and how DEI works.

Around 50 employees attended the inaugural DEI Summit Watch Party, sponsored by Clinical Operations, Philanthropy and the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, viewing the livestream together (with snacks and goodie bags) at the Arnold Atrium.

Fred Hutch vendors Allied Security, Bon Appétit and Red Carpet Valet/TransWest also participated.

Fred Hutch President and Director Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD, directly acknowledged the political headwinds DEI has faced recently at a wide range of public and private institutions.

“In a climate where even the phrase ‘DEI’ has become a political lightning rod, it is essential that we recommit to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, which are central to our mission to eradicate cancer and infectious diseases,” said Lynch, who holds the Raisbeck Endowed Chair for the President and Director.

Harper said Fred Hutch showed that commitment early on, hiring Paul Buckley, PhD, vice president and chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion officer early in 2020, well before the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a nationwide scramble to get DEI experts on staff.

Many of those riding the bandwagon hopped right back off after the summer of protests simmered down and the media spotlight moved on, Harper said.

“Four years ago, at least for five weeks, the whole nation was abuzz about how it is time for change,” Harper said. “Now, four years later, so much of that work has been unraveled, dismantled, undone.”

DEI Core’s work at Hutch under Buckley’s leadership evolved into learning throughout the organization that was more substantial and useful than simply regurgitating what Buckley called “cliché language and rote activities.”

Harper said Fred Hutch now needs to speak up about what it’s doing and defend DEI efforts everywhere they’re under attack, especially on behalf of cancer patients who suffer racial disproportionality in cancer death.

“It requires us to double down, even triple down on our commitment to DEI in cancer care as well as in the Fred Hutch Cancer Center workplace,” Harper said.

The social disparities and inequities people experience in the communities where they are born, live, play, learn, work, pray and age significantly influence their health long before they see a medical professional.

“Everything happens to you before you get to the emergency room or the doctor’s office,” said keynote speaker Lisa C. Richardson, MD, MPH, who leads the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Equity is one of our guiding principles and it’s been there forever,” said Richardson, who directs all scientific, policy, and programmatic issues related to four cancer prevention programs.

She helped lead a task force that embedded an equity checklist within the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) documents that go out to organizations such as Fred Hutch that want to partner with the CDC.

“Within each NOFO there is a checklist that everyone has to use,” Richardson said.

Organizations that opt-out of the equity checklists must explain their reasoning.

“You have to tell us why the checklist is not something that you should follow or that you should include,” Richardson said. “It’s really easy for people not to do something if they have to opt-in, because it is extra work, I’m not going to lie to you.”

She said most organizations use the checklists and those that opt-out usually provide an explanation that makes sense.

“This has significantly increased the proportion of CDC public health infrastructure and capacity-building grants and cooperative agreements that explicitly address health disparities or social determinants of health,” according to the CDC.

Richardson urged the summit attendees to recognize their own power to improve equity both within the workforce at Fred Hutch and in the community.

“You can control what happens inside your cancer center, which will improve how you interact with the community and others,” Richardson said.
 

During the afternoon learning sessions, summit delegates got a preview of the third DEI course for all Fred Hutch employees — “Building Inclusive Teams.”

Though the title suggests that it’s a course for managers, Buckley said it’s geared toward helping everyone contribute to making teams inclusive.

“Team leaders, as well as those who are not considered ‘team leaders’ by position, we all build inclusive teams,” Buckley said.

Theresa Lee, a DEI educator & learning specialist at Fred Hutch, led the hour-long pilot session.

The session covered the difference between being a “bystander” who sees behaviors that make people feel excluded, but says nothing, and being an “upstander” who says something, even if it causes some discomfort.

The group also discussed a recruiting scenario involving a nonbinary job applicant who is denied an interview.

“I thought it was really good, but it went by so quickly,” said Terri Bryson, a lab manager in the Basic Sciences Division. “I think this whole course could be stretched out a little bit.”

The new module will be the third in a sequence of five courses that begins with “Bias Mitigation Education,” followed by “Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity (SOGI) Spectrum,” which also was road-tested at the 2023 DEI Summit.

Feedback from the “Building Inclusive Teams” session will help DEI Core fine-tune the course before it opens next month.

The remaining two courses in the sequence are scheduled for fiscal year 2025.

Summit participants could choose to attend two learning sessions, which included:  

• Activating Diversity Potential in Our Recruitment Strategy
• Expanding Pathways & Supports for the Next Generation of Scientists
• Supplier Diversity at Fred Hutch: Past, Present and Future
• Persisting in the Face of Challenges — Executive Leadership Discussion

After the learning sessions, delegates re-convened to synthesize what they learned during the day and form closer connections with colleagues, which continued with a social hour to close the event.

Buckley said his team will tell the story of DEI at Fred Hutch boldly in their annual report, which will be published in September. 

“We refuse to be stifled in our work,” Buckley said. “We want to drive it forward.”

Senior communications specialist Drea Garvue contributed to this story.