The Multicultural Physicians’ Alliance is led by residents and fellows to improve diversity and inclusion among residents and fellows by fostering an environment for professional development and a culture of inclusivity.

Multicultural Physicians' Alliance

The IU School of Medicine Multicultural Physicians' Alliance (MPA) works to improve diversity, equity and inclusion among residents and fellows by fostering an environment for professional development and a culture of inclusivity. To achieve this purpose, MPA emphasizes key goals:

Facilitate professional exchange and collaboration between residents who are underrepresented in medicine (URM) and IU School of Medicine on initiatives that support causes that increase diversity, inclusion and representation in medicine.
Develop and support shared experiences for URM residents and fellows that empower residents and fellows to be patient advocates and strategically develop efforts to positively impact URM communities.
Enable exposure to various career options for URM residents in order to improve the representation in multiple ﬁelds across the medical ﬁelds.
Promote opportunities for professional development in areas of clinical acumen, board preparation, oral presentations, grant writing, publications, and innovation.
Expand and multiply vertical mentoring opportunities with faculty as well as medical students and encourage strong academic relationships with faculty
Advocate for concerns of URM residents and fellows.

MPA Foundational Pillars

The four pillars of the Multicultural Physicians' Alliance demonstrate how the organization will strives to achieve its goals. These priorities are important in planning events and programming for each year, acting as the guiding light for all MPA work.

Pillars for the MPA are Professional Development, Recruitment, Community Engagement, and Retention

Professional Development
This pillar will help our MPA residents to develop professionally in order to prepare for careers after graduating from GME.

Sample projects include:
- Grant writing assistance
- BioSketch development support
- Publication writing and submission
- EndNote training
- CV and personal statement tips
- Support for educational advancement (tertiary degrees/training)
- Language services
- Global medicine opportunities
- Support for presentations (oral and poster)
- Journal club
- Business pitch support for entrepreneurs
- Advocacy and health policy training
- Research and innovation exposure
Recruitment
This pillar aims to increase URM resident trainees in the GME by attracting strong URM medical students to IU for their residency training.

Sample projects include:
- Fall social event (shared event) for local/visiting medical students
- MPA-sponsored visiting clerkship for URM medical students
- MPA visiting research fellowship for medical students and residents
- Resident-run blog describing the experience of being a URM physician and how to appropriately and professionally combat various issues
Community Engagement
This pillar will provide opportunities for MPA residents to directly impact their communities and further to have experiences that will inform their clinical practice, advocacy and research.

Sample projects include:
- Indiana Black Expo
- Indiana Latino Expo
- Patient education forums
- URM-speciﬁc content for patient education development
- Patient Advocacy Panel (IU Health, VA and Eskenazi)
- Community service activities in collaboration with local organizations
- The “Looks Like Me” campaign for the Circle City Classic parade
Retention
This pillar aims to foster a strong sense of community and camaraderie between MPA residents and to show the earnest effort of the GME to embrace URM residents.

Sample projects include:
- Private Workplace by Facebook page for MPA members
- WhatsApp vs GroupMe
- Quarterly social events
- Medical student mentoring (SNMA and MS-SOL)
- Male to Male and Woman to Woman mentoring events
- Orientation session for new URM residents and fellows