Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Matunis Lab Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement

As members of Johns Hopkins University, the BCMB program, and the greater scientific community, we acknowledge the harm perpetuated through systemic racism and unjust biases. The Matunis Lab is committed to providing a supportive environment in which the dimensions added by diversity of race, ethnicity, nationality, immigration status, culture, socioeconomic status, veteran status, disability, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and marital status are valued and celebrated. We condemn any form of past, present, or future discrimination. It is our mission to consistently provide equitable access to the highest quality education possible. In addition, we acknowledge that creativity, innovation, and synergistic learning arise from a diversity of approaches, thoughts, skills, and experiences. Thus, to build an optimal learning environment, we must actively seek to build diverse research groups in communities based on respect, equity, and inclusion.

The Matunis Lab has been and continues to be a diverse group of students that are passionate about learning and promoting diversity in laboratories. Here we provide a series of commitments, goals, and action plans to build and maintain a safe, diverse, and inclusive environment in our lab.

Lab Action Plan to foster an inclusive environment

Our labs definition of a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment:

Students should feel emotionally and physically safe and comfortable expressing frustration, addressing conflict, and making mistakes. We acknowledge that our actions and implicit biases can directly or indirectly make others feel more or less included. We will strive to treat each other as equals without biased treatment of any kind.

Plans regarding lab demographics:

• We will continue to invite PREP scholars, SARE students, and others from historically excluded backgrounds to join the lab.

• Erika will advocate for diverse departmental seminar speakers and take recommendations from lab members.

• We will annually revise this document to ensure we are maintaining our core principles.

Plans for maintaining this environment:

• Attend implicit bias trainings

• During journal clubs, present a scientist who identifies with the current heritage month

• Offer and value feedback from all members of the lab

• Create a Google Form for lab members to submit suggestions on how to improve the lab environment, providing a mechanism to start conversations

• Create a lab grievance schedule to go through the suggestions in the Google form

• Stand firmly against any form of conscious or unconscious bias or lack of respect in one-on-one or group interactions and work both to take responsibility for our own actions and to act as allies for one another if we witness such behaviors. These behaviors will be reported through the anonymous channels provided by BCMB.

In summary, we firmly believe that a diverse workspace promotes quality research and the wellbeing of all lab members. We acknowledge that different individuals will require different types of support to succeed in the lab. Therefore, we will continue to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment by pursuing the goals listed in this document as a collective.​