Keme Carter,MD has been named as the recipient of the 2021 Department of Medicine Diversity Award. Dr. Carter currently serves as Associate Professor of Medicine (Emergency Medicine) , Associate Dean for Admissions in the Pritzker School of Medicine (PSOM), and Director of Undergraduate Medical Education for the Section of Emergency Medicine and the Emergency Medicine Clerkship Director. Dr. Carter is an inspirational role model for trainees and students and is recognized as a transformative leader in the PSOM admission process where she is uncompromising on the values of both excellence and diversity and has created an environment where community and justice are leading factors in determining who will be the next students at Pritzker. As an EM physician, Dr. Carter serves a highly vulnerable patient population during each of her shifts in the Emergency Department.
Dr. Carter has made remarkable contributions to advancing the cultural diversity of the health professions. Under her leadership, the PSOM has dramatically increased the number of matriculating students from backgrounds historically underrepresented in medicine, and this year over 36% of students in the 2021 entering class identify as Black and/or Latinx. Dr. Carter has also served as a leader in cultivating a climate of respect, openness, and engagement within the PSOM Admissions Committee. In 2020, she led the implementation of the first-ever implicit bias trainings for MD and MD/PhD Admissions Committee members in collaboration with leaders from Pritzker’s Office of Multicultural Affairs and UChicago Medicine. Dr. Carter has demonstrated to all prospective future physicians engaging with PSOM that diversity can and should matter to everyone. The transformation of the PSOM student body has improved the care of patients in the hospital and will have a ripple effect for generations to come.
The Diversity Award was established in 2010 to recognize a faculty member who fosters diversity in the DOM/PSOM/BSD and the University.