Our Mission

The Names & Pronunciations Initiative (NPI) aims to not only highlight the importance of people's names and their right pronunciations, but also improve how we communicate with each other. Though we believe that names are an integral part of our identity and culture, we also recognize that the mishandling of names–whether that is misnaming or mispronouncing–in the healthcare education space is often a microcosm, one tip of the iceberg that is systemic discrimination and inequity. Hence, we are committed to building more inclusive communities by promoting diversity, empathy, and cultural awareness through this advocacy work.

 

While this project was born during the medical school journey, it also represents the history of many individuals whose names have been misused, frequently causing the dehumanizing experience of being othered. In these moments, names and their mispronunciations become a point of exclusivity when instead pronunciations can serve as a source of dignity, respect, and representation.

 

Thus, NPI aims to reorient these conversations by creating tags which include users' written phonetic name pronunciation. The idea is for users to have this tag handy (layered behind your hospital ID badge) for use in clinical healthcare spaces as needed. The goal is to empower users and facilitate more conscious, inclusive conversations about our names and their pronunciations.