AGA Diversity Committee

This Organizational Statement was last updated by the AGA Governing Board, (6) VOTED, May 2019.

Learn about AGA’s commitment to achieve equity and eradicate disparities in digestive diseases. 

Mission

To further the AGA Strategic Plan by meeting the needs of underrepresented members of AGA to include the spectrum of diversity as defined by race, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

The specific intent of the committee is:

  1. To foster and promote involvement, advancement and recognition of underrepresented diverse constituents.
  2. Through policy recommendations and programs, assist AGA members’ ability to address barriers to access and utilization of health care services among diverse patient populations, with attention to linguistic, racial, cultural, religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age and economic diversity.
  3. To convene two meetings annually to solicit comments, ideas and proposals from the constituency for further consideration by the committee.

Committee Structure

The committee consists of eight members (including a chair), plus a trainee, and are to be selected for their interest in issues that affect underrepresented members. Four members shall be appointed at-large and three members shall be appointed from among members of AGA and AGA Institute committees and the AGA Institute Council. A governing board member (who shall not count against the maximum membership) shall serve as a liaison to the committee and shall attend all committee meetings; additional members of the governing board (who shall not count against the maximum membership) may be assigned as team members to the committee but are not intended to attend any committee meetings. A chair-elect (who shall not count against the maximum membership) shall be appointed one year before the end of the term of the chair.

Appointment terms of all committee members shall be for two years, with the opportunity to be renewed for an additional year based on attendance and performance. One-third of the maximum terms shall expire annually.

The committee chair is authorized to create small, temporary subgroups consisting of members and nonmembers of the committee to address policy development and oversight of specific issues within the committee’s mission. Costs of all such subgroups must be included in the committee’s approved budget.

Special Qualifications, Committee Chair

  • Serves as an advocate on relevant issues.
  • Advises the AGA Governing Board on relevant issues where committee involvement is not feasible.

Committee Functions

  • Develops policy and programmatic recommendations to achieve the committee’s mission.
  • Assesses the AGA Strategic Plan to ensure that AGA’s strategic directions reflect the interests and concerns of its diverse members; reviews the AGA Strategic Plan to determine new and better ways to achieve association goals.
  • Advocates for more involvement of diverse members in all aspects of AGA activities; issues an annual report to the AGA Governing Board.
  • Works with other committees and the AGA Institute Council to affect the mission of the committee; assesses the effectiveness of such programs annually and reports therein to the AGA Governing Board.

Meetings

The committee is authorized to hold two face-to-face business meetings per year, one in September and one at Digestive Disease Week®, and teleconferences as needed.

Members

  • Ibironke Oduyebo, MD, MS (chair)
  • Kim Barrett, PhD, AGAF (governing board liaison)
  • Victor Chedid, MD
  • Jeremy Louissant, MD (trainee member)
  • Dharma Sunjaya, MD
  • Adjoa Anyane-Yeboa, MD, MPH
  • Veroushka Ballester, MD, MSc
  • Yamini Natarajan, MD
  • Sonali Paul, MD
  • Jason E. Williams, MD
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