Mission Statement

Founded over 50 years ago with the motto “Leadership, Excellence & Opportunity”, the University of Cincinnati Emergency Medicine Program has evolved and since developed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee committed to the recruitment, retention and advancement of individuals who identify as underrepresented in medicine (URiM).

UC EM Diversity and Inclusion Committee Leadership

Eddie Irankunda, MD

I was born in Rwanda and spent most of my childhood in Zimbabwe before moving to the United States when I was twelve and spent the rest of my time in Indiana prior to moving to Cincinnati for residency.

I love to spend time with my family outside at parks or playgrounds and at different sporting venues here in the city. If I am not in the hospital or at home, you will find me in the gym.

We have an amazing, diverse patient population here in Cincinnati who deserve to have a provider pool that represents them and that is something that I have been told countless times by my patients and so I want to help make that happen because we know that health outcomes are positively affected by this.

Erin McDonough, MD

I was born and bred in Cincinnati, moved to Chicago for medical school with no intention of coming back to Cincy, but then Cincy EM drew me back! It has been amazing to see how much Cincy has changed (for the better) since I was a kid.

My ideal day off: I sleep in, have some brunch, go hiking with my husband (and sometimes dog if it is a shorter hike...she has short legs), and then make dinner together, either sitting out on our screened-in porch (summer) or in front of the fire (winter).

The DEI mission is important to me for a number of reasons. First, we are fortunate to serve a diverse patient population and we need our providers to better reflect the diversity of that population. Second, I have already seen how the DEI mission enriches the culture of our residency program and Department. Our Residency Program has traditionally struggled in this area, but we have made some great strides in recent years and I have seen firsthand how patients, residents, and faculty have benefited from prioritizing this mission. For instance, I have seen faculty and residents aim to use more inclusive slides in Grand Rounds, I have seen how a Black resident is able to engender trust in a Black patient when the patient declined lifesaving interventions, I have seen male faculty apologize to female faculty for interrupting during a meeting, just to name a few examples. There is still work to be done in building our DEI culture and we are looking for residents who want to play an active role in helping us to continue to push the DEI mission forward.

Martina Diaz, MD - PGY-4

I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved to Port Saint Lucie, Florida where I lived up until college

I enjoy running with my Australian Shepherd, rollerblading with friends and watching Friends reruns

Our mission here at UC is significant to me because we have a multiculturally diverse population in our community that deserves to have providers that can relate to them and that are passionate towards eliminating health inequalities.

Jazmyn Shaw, MD - PGY-3

I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona before relocating to Jackson, Mississippi in 2010 where I spent the majority of my life prior to coming to Cincinnati.

My favorite thing to do is anything that includes spending time with my husband Aaron and my children Aubri and AJ.

My interests in DEI include recruitment and retention of diverse residents and faculty in emergency medicine. This is our mission here at Cincinnati and is important because our workforce needs to represent the population that we serve. All residents are equipped with exceptional training, and I feel strongly that URiM's should also be privy to such training as they impact this community.