• DEI can shape recruitment by seeking clinicians committed to serving diverse communities.
• Outreach and expanded screening access can help reduce barriers and reach underserved patients.

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in medical practice are not just about reaching underserved communities but should also influence who is recruited to care for them.

According to Andy Tau, MD, FACG, FASGE, chair of recruiting at Austin Gastroenterology in Texas, DEI is helping shape the qualities the practice looks for in its next generation of gastroenterologists.

“It is my overt mission statement to try to recruit people in our group who are excellent gastroenterologists, but I also want them to be people who will be willing, as part of their mission statement as gastroenterologists, to go out in the community and take care of people who may not look like themselves,” Tau told Healio. “The recruiting effort has to attract excellent gastroenterologists first and foremost, but I’m not satisfied with just that.”

This philosophy extends beyond recruitment, according to Tau. Physicians at Austin Gastroenterology participate in outreach across Austin’s cultural communities, including health fairs, community clinics and cultural festivals, where simple conversations with passersby at their booths can translate into patients getting screened and potentially save lives.

The practice also has a longstanding partnership with People’s Community Clinic of Austin, providing colonoscopies at no cost for underserved patients, including many non-English speakers and those without insurance.

Tau noted that these efforts reflect what he believes DEI should mean, particularly in a state like Texas where the term itself has become politically charged.

“Kindness and goodness to one’s neighbor is a Texan value, and so in some ways it just needs to be relabeled, put in a different way,” Tau told Healio. “Whether you want to label that as DEI or whatever you want to say that is, the spirit of charity and spirit of caring for one’s neighbor and being inclusive is my goal when I try to recruit.”