“It is a marathon, not a sprint.”
– Dr. Tal Jarus
Dr. Tal Jarus is the Chair of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy’s Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. Dr. Jarus has focused on advocating for diversifying the health professions and mitigating barriers for students who identify as belonging to equity-denied groups when navigating the learning and working environment.
In an interview with the Faculty of Medicine’s Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion team, Dr. Jarus shares her motivation behind this noble and impactful work:
“When I came out of the closet, having first-hand experience of being marginalized impacted me significantly. It was shocking to realize that before coming out of the closet, a lot of these injustices were not clear to me. I wasn’t even aware of my privileges until some of my privileges were taken away.”
Dr. Jarus highlights that significant barriers to this JEDI work are the systemic issues. Attitudes, structures of power, and biases within the system are some of the major roadblocks. Thus, her work in the past few years focused on: 1) increasing accessibility in the health professions, 2) exploring how to decolonize the health professions, and 3) increasing the reach to equity-denied youth who are interested in health professions as a career.
Sharing her vision and forward outlook, Dr. Jarus sees the possibility of a brighter future:
“We need strong leaders who recognize their privilege and are committed and firm in trickling down a culture of change.”