Mentorship, Safety, and Inclusion

In this episode of the AAST Cutting Edge Podcast, host Dr. Caroline Park and co-moderator Dr. Christina Colosimo are joined by Dr. Karyn Butler, chair of the AAST DEI Committee, and Dr. Bethany Strong for an update on the committee's most impactful initiatives. Dr. Butler walks through four current projects including the networking breakfast, now in its third year with over 300 registrants, a manuscript on navigating conflict in surgical training, a critical review of the SCORE curriculum through a DEI lens, and a drowning prevention article highlighting disparate outcomes in Black and Indigenous communities.

Dr. Strong then takes the spotlight to describe the DEI pipeline program, now entering its fifth year, which pairs high school students from underrepresented backgrounds with trauma surgeon mentors and provides a structured curriculum covering everything from resume building to suture skills. The episode closes with a candid conversation on workplace violence in trauma settings, why it is more visible now than ever, and what prevention, mitigation, and post-event support need to look like across surgical institutions. If you will be at the annual meeting in Dallas, the pipeline program skills day and networking breakfast are not to be missed.