Anti-Racism in Medicine

 Healing Medicine Itself 

Physician, heal thyself
THEN is committed to the re-examination and transformation of medical science, training and practice to make Health Equity and Social Justice a reality.

Anti-racism and Medical Training and Care

Anti-racism Collection in MedEdPortal (2018-present).  FREE - from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), this MedEdPortal Collection offers a continually updated set of educational materials - for students and faculty.  Highlights:  skills-based curricula on understanding racial justice, intersectionality, how to interrupt microaggressions, and implicit bias training.

Ansell, James and DeMaio (2022) A Call for Antiracist Action.  New England Journal of Medicine.  The authors recommend three immediate actions: publicly defending anti-racist clinicians and researchers who have become targets of hatred; implementing and evaluating race-conscious, intersectional interventions such as the Healing ARC, especially given that colorblind approaches have failed to achieve meaningful gains in health equity; and publicly reporting progress toward achieving racial equity in health outcomes. Inaction in the face of White supremacism must not be an option.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Competencies for Undergraduate Medical Education.  (2021) The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).   New guidelines for Addressing and Eliminating Racism at the AAMC and Beyond.

James (2021) Racism in Medicine is Killing Minoritized Patients.  As a Black Doctor, I Should Know.  Blog from Brittani James, MD who co-founded the Institute for Anti-Racism in Medicine.  By failing to recognize and address the racism in our field and in ourselves, we as physicians and medical scientists are failing to uphold one of the foundational charges of our profession. We are contributing to the destruction of the very people we are charged to heal.

Ways to Eradicate Systemic Racism in Health Care and Medical Education: A Letter to Medical Educators and Health Care Institutions.  (2021) Letter to the academic medical community from the Allied Black Students of Hofstra/Northwell School of Medicine.  The students recommend 4 steps that medical schools can take right now including hiring and promoting Black and underrepresented minorities, incorporating antiracism lectures and historical context into the curricula of medical schools, hiring experts trained in addressing institutional racism, and creating  meaningful relationships with surrounding communities.

Incorporating Racial Equity into Trauma-Informed Care (2021) The Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS).  CHCS acknowledges that Racism is Trauma and calls on trauma care practitioners and institutions to build organizational knowledge of racialized trauma, take an honest look at institutionalized racism within their organization, elevate patient and community voices to disrupt existing power structures, and create intentional opportunities for healing.

Salles (2021)  Everyone Must Address Anti-Black Racism in Health Care; Steps for Non-Black Health Care Professionals to Take.  JAMA.  

Pediatrics and Structural Racism

Slopen (2022)  Structural Racism and Pediatric Health - A Call for Research to Confront the Origins of Racial Disparities in Health.  JAMA Pediatrics.  The authors present a model of child development that implicates structural racism as foundational in the emergence of racial health disparities across the life course. We contend that this reframing is necessary to effectively intervene on health disparities and offer recommendations to advance research and progress toward health equity.

New Thinking about Anti-Racism and Psychiatry

Bryant (2021) Race as a Social Construct in Psychiatry Research and Practice.  JAMA.  In scientific studies, the social construct of race is often conceptualized as a biological variable, supported by the false historical narrative that there are inherent biological differences.  This scientific error has led to decades of false practices, contributed to health disparities, and reinforced racial bias in diagnosis and treatment.  The authors call on all researchers and clinicians to acknowledge the existence of structural racism that contributes to poor mental health outcomes among minoritized populations.

New Thinking about Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Prostate Cancer

Nyame (2022)  Deconstructing, Addressing, and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Prostate Cancer Care.  Eur Urol.  Introduces a conceptual model for evaluating racial inequities in prostate care.  Worldwide, men of African ancestry demonstrate worse outcomes - largely driven by social factors.

THEN is excited to expand this list of Research and Healing Programs.  If you have a suggestion, please contact THEN.