Planning for an Anti-Racist School of Medicine
As part of the Duke School of Medicine's long-established commitment to anti-racism and diversity and inclusion, leadership and faculty have been actively involved with ensuring that disparities and health equity continue to be a strategic priority. Duke Ob/Gyn Dept. Chair Matthew D. Barber, MD, MHS, and faculty Maria Small, MD, MPH, recently were selected to serve on two DUSOM Moments to Movement committees. The committees have been created to represent all stakeholders within DUSOM: health professions students, graduate students and postdocs, staff and faculty.
Dr. Barber serves on the Oversight Anti-Racism Committee, and Dr. Small serves on the Faculty Anti-racism Committee, which is working to uncover DUSOM's priorities and best opportunities related to enhancing racial diversity and equity among faculty, and enhancing the career development and satisfaction of the School's underrepresented in medicine faculty.
The Oversight Anti-Racism Committee will synthesize and evaluate the final recommendations of four committees — the Graduate Students and Postdoc Anti-Racism Committee, the Faculty Anti-Racism Committee, the Health Professions Students Committee and the Staff Anti-Racism Committee — and propose a plan based on those results.
As part of the Oversight Committee, Dr. Barber and colleagues will hear key findings and priorities from each of the working committees, look for common themes emerging across the groups, help identify gaps, inform implementation considerations and make recommendations about the final strategic plan content.
The Oversight Committee is committed to the following through planning efforts and resulting actions:
- Significantly enhance racial diversity, equity, and sense of belonging across all constituents in the SOM
- Train a current and future healthcare and biomedical research workforce that is intentionally anti-racist within a broader context of social justice
- Foster educational and career development and satisfaction of all students, faculty, and staff
- Advance knowledge related to the impact of racism and racial inequities on health and biomedical sciences through our teaching, research, and clinical missions—and utilize our expertise to develop and deploy solutions for our local, regional, and national communities
- Establish DUSOM as an educational and research leader and agent of change towards an anti-racist culture
- In collaboration with the University, develop innovative partnerships with our community colleagues to advance careers in science and technology
Additionally, the School of Medicine Education & Curriculum will continue to address Disparities in Women’s Healthcare and Reproductive Justice through the Cultural Determinants of Health and Healthcare Disparities course. DUSOM is reviewing current and potential partnerships in advancing equity, anti-racism and navigating bias in educational offerings, as well as a broad array of resources through the Duke Health Disparities Research Curriculum (HDRC) and workshops/additional programming.
Further information can be found here.