Lombardi DEI Survey Frequently Asked Questions

Lombardi Landscape: Assessing DEI Across the Center

Count Yourself In!

The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s (LCCC DEI Office) survey entitled, Lombardi Landscape: Assessing DEI Across the Cancer Center Survey was disseminated on July 11, 2024. The Survey is now closed.

What is the purpose of the Lombardi Landscape Survey?
The purpose of this brief survey is to learn more about our Lombardi community in terms of both the people and how we are doing as an organization with efforts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Lombardi DEI Office will collect – for the first time ever – self-reported demographic information and people’s views on institutional DEI efforts. This is an initial survey, and we will monitor change over time. Your participation and feedback is very important.

What is the timeline for the Lombardi Landscape Survey?
The Lombardi Landscape Survey will be open for six(6) weeks from the day it is launched. The deadline to complete the survey is July 22, 2024. You will receive an introductory email with the customized link and then consecutive reminders with your customized link until the survey is closed or until you answer the survey or until you decline to answer.

Where do I find the Lombardi Landscape Survey link?
As a member of the Lombardi Cancer Consortium you must have received a link to the survey via email with subject line Lombardi Landscape Survey: Assessing DEI Across the Cancer Cancer Center. Please note this link is customized to each member by email address and should not be forwarded or used by others to take the survey. If you have not received the link and you think you should, please let us know by emailing LombardiDEI@georgetown.edu .

What if I can’t find the email to complete the LCCC Lombardi Landscape Survey?
If you don’t find the email in your inbox or your other mail folders, please send an email to LombardiDEI@georgetown.edu and let the Lombardi DEI Office know that you are affiliated with the Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium (in any capacity including staff, faculty, students, and other Lombardi members) and that you would like to receive the survey.

Who should participate in the Lombardi Landscape Survey?
EVERYONE affiliated with the Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium in any capacity including staff, faculty, students, and other Lombardi members is ENCOURAGED to participate.

Who is included in the Lombardi Cancer Consortium?
The Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium (Lombardi Consortium) encompasses the Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) and affiliated MedStar Hospitals in the mid-Atlantic region together with its consortium site in New Jersey, the John Theurer Cancer Center (JTCC) and Hackensack Meridian Health hospitals as well as the Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI). 

Why is the Lombardi DEI Office collecting this data?
The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center DEI Office was created to lead the Plan to Enhance Diversity under the NCI Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) requirements. Our goal is to evaluate, develop, and implement strategies with three specific aims: (1) establish a DEI infrastructure and increase diversity of trainees, LCCC Members, and the cancer research workforce, (2) enhance equitable participation in cancer research, and (3) promote inclusion and foster leadership by individuals from members from groups underrepresented in science and cancer research. 

The Lombardi Landscape Survey is responsive to the NCI CCSG requirements related to building an infrastructure and monitoring and tracking diversity. Having a baseline data on LCCC demographics and diversity ‘engagement’ will allow us to track progress through a repeat measure in 2 years prior to our next CCSG submission and site visit in 2028. The invited respondents for this survey include individuals who are affiliated with the Cancer Center in any capacity (including staff, faculty, students, and other Lombardi members). 

Data analysis will provide the LCCC DEI Office with a view on how institutional diversity, equity and inclusion efforts can better be used to inform the Lombardi’s strategic plan and how Lombardi can recognize the value of what each Lombardi member brings to the organization. 

Is the Survey voluntary?
Yes. Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary. You can choose not to participate at all or to leave the survey at any point.

Will my participation in the Lombardi Landscape Survey (DEI Survey) be confidential?
Any information collected about you will be kept confidential. Your identity will never be associated with your responses in any analysis or report. Additionally, results will be disseminated at an aggregated level so that individual employees cannot be identified.

Why should I participate?
The entire survey is voluntary and you may choose to skip any question if you don’t want to answer it. This survey will inform and enhance the work of the LCCC DEI Office to create and sustain diversity within a culture of equity and inclusive excellence at the Lombardi Cancer Consortium.  Your participation and feedback is important to effectively evaluate Lombardi’s diversity to improve the ways in which we support trainees and other members from groups underrepresented in science and cancer research .

Are there any incentives to participate in the Lombardi Landscape Survey?
When you complete the survey you participate in the following incentive activities:

  • Randomized drawings to win a gift card; names will be randomly selected with a random number generator. We will email winners to notify them that their name was selected and electronic or physical gift cards will be sent to respondents. 
  • We will provide incentives at different values:
    • $10 gift card value: 1 out of every 10 people (10% of respondents; up to 100 people total).
    • $25 gift card value: 1 out of every 50 people (2% of respondents; up to 20 people total). 
    • $100 gift card value: 1 out of every 500 people (0.2% of respondents; up to 2 people total). 
  • A catered lunch (e.g., pizza or boxed lunches) for the Lombardi Research Program (e.g. Cancer Host Interactions, Cancer Cell Biology, Cancer Prevention and Control Program or Clinical Trial Office) that is the first to reach 70% survey response rate. 

How is this different from the Georgetown University Climate Survey and other surveys I have participated in?
We understand about survey fatigue! This survey aims to include ALL members of the Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium in any capacity of affiliation. This is the first time that Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center is collecting self-reported demographic information and people’s views on institutional DEI efforts. This is an initial survey, and we will monitor change over time. Your participation and feedback is very important.

What does the LCCC DEI Lombardi Landscape Survey look like?
The LCCC DEI Survey should take 5 minutes or less to complete and it will consist of two (2 sections):

  • A Diversity Engagement Survey (DES) Section (Validated Survey by the University of Massachusetts). Originally developed in 2011 by the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, the Diversity Engagement Survey was created in partnership with the Association of American Medical Colleges as well as Datastar Inc. (Datastar, 2017). Since its creation, 65 unique medical center administrations have been included in the benchmark system curated by the University of Massachusetts. Over 100,000 respondents have been surveyed using the Diversity Engagement Survey (Person et al., 2015).
  • A Demographic Section designed by the Lombardi DEI Office. We have selected the questions based on other surveys administered at Georgetown (e.g., the Faculty and Staff Cultural Climate Survey administered by OADS) and best practices identified in the literature (e.g, PhenX Toolkit). The respondent’s answers are completely confidential. The information collected will never be associated with anyone’s specific responses in any analysis or report. All questions added are needed to have a true diversity landscape across Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. You can choose to skip any question if you don’t want to answer it and the entire survey is voluntary.

What else can I do to ensure that all my peers are accounted for?
If you know someone in your group, or department that you think a peer, may not have received the link to the LCCC DEI Survey, please contact LombardiDEI@georgetown.edu with their email address and affiliation to help get the survey to them. We want everyone at the Lombardi Cancer Center Consortium to feel included, please help us by encouraging mentors, PIs, interns, research peers, leaders and anyone you know who is working in cancer research at Lombardi to participate.

Who should I contact if I have any questions?
If you have any questions about the survey please contact the Lombardi DEI Office at LombardiDEI@georgetown.edu or call (202) 784-5342.