The Role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Principles in Enhancing the Quality of Urologic Resident Education and Advancing Gender Diverse Care

When it comes to enhancing the field of urology it is important to reflect on the impact our care has on our patients. Among underrepresented minorities, there is a disproportionate incidence of health disparities including the transgender and gender diverse community. Health disparities are rooted in barriers including systemic injustices, patient related historical trauma, and provider miseducation and bias. As urologists and genitourinary specialists, it is imperative that we become comfortable with how to care for TGD patients. In recent years, the Graduate Medical Education office, American Urologic Association, and American Board of Urology have made more of a concerted effort to correct these injustices in other underrepresented communities and only have begun to extend that to the LGBTQ + community.(47-49) There is an opportunity for urologic programs to address systemic and provider driven barriers at the institutional level through the incorporation of TGD focused, comprehensive DEI, and cultural competency programs. It is not sufficient merely to just educate or introduce these concepts, these are concepts that must be reinforced, understood, and practiced, regardless of one's own beliefs. In the words of Andreja Pejic, a trans-identifying celebrity, "All human beings deserve equal treatment no matter their gender identity or sexuality. To be perceived as what you say you are [and not have that impact how you are treated] is a basic human right."