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Diversifying the radiation oncology workforce is an urgent and unmet need. During the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 2019 Annual Meeting, ASTRO's Committee on Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (CHEDI) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) collaborated on the ASTRO-NCI Diversity Symposium, entitled ''Pathways for Recruiting and Retaining Women and Underrepresented Minority Clinicians and Physician Scientists Into the Radiation Oncology Workforce.'' Herein, we summarize the presented data and personal anecdotes with the goal of raising awareness of ongoing and future initiatives to improve recruitment and retention of underrepesented groups to radiation oncology. Common themes include the pivotal role of mentorship and standardized institutional practices – such as protected time and pay parity – as critical to achieving a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

Implicit bias is one of the most insidious and least recognizable mechanisms that can cause inequity and disparities. There is increasing evidence that both implicit and explicit biases have a negative effect on patient outcomes and patient-physician relationships. Given the impact of Implicit bias, a joint session between ASTROs Committee on Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and the National Cancer Institute (the ASTRO-National Cancer Institute Diversity Symposium) was held during the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 2020 Annual Meeting, to address the effect of implicit bias in radiation oncology through real life and synthesized hypothetical scenario discussions. Given the value of this session to the radiation oncology community, the scenarios and discussion are summarized in this manuscript. Our goal is to heighten awareness of the multiple settings in which implicit bias can occur as well as discuss resources to address bias.

There is currently much interest in identifying and mitigating gender inequity within medicine, the greater workforce and society as a whole. We provide an evidence-based review of current and historical trends in gender diversity in the RO physician workforce and identify potential barriers to diversity and inclusion in training, professional development, and career advancement. Next, we move to actionable items, addressing methods to mitigate bias, harassment, and other impediments to professional productivity and characterizing leadership lessons and imperatives for departmental, institutional, and organizational leaders.