DEI Buzz
The COMSEP DEI Advisory Group will periodically share resources with the membership and information from the collaboratives about what they are working on from a DEI perspective.
12/02/2022 -
Here is a year-end reminder about race being a social construct and ideas on how data is collected and used. We encourage COMSEP members to engage in an equity and anti-racism lens in research... as you conduct, plan, read, interpret, and teach about research.
Here’s a guide, "How to Embed a Racial and Ethnic Equity Perspective in Research"
This is more briefly summarized here with 5 guiding principles, "Five guiding principles for integrating racial and ethnic equity in research"
10/21/2022 -
As we head into residency application interview season, here’s a 15-minute video link on Addressing Implicit Bias in Virtual Interviews from the AAMC; it has had over 10K views already!
10/07/2022 -
Let's celebrate International Pronouns Day (everyday) as we support our learners and colleagues (everyday)!
Check out this 3 minute video from the Human Rights Campaign.
09/13/2022 -
From September 15th to October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month and we want to share a few resources to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the American Latino community. We also want to support our learners (or medical students) of Hispanic background. Here are some links:
Hispanic Heritage Month:
National Hispanic Heritage Month | White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics
National Hispanic American Heritage Month 2022
If you want info about starting a Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) chapter at your medical school:
Start an LMSA Chapter – The Latino Medical Student Association
Here’s some info from Pew on “Who is Hispanic?” from Sept 2021, pertaining to identity, the US Census, and more:
Who is Hispanic? | Pew Research Center
06/24/2022 -
Earlier this month we shared PRIDE resources and also celebrated Juneteenth. This week we share two recent articles for you to explore as you teach and provide care and advocate for change.
We hope you consider this Eliminating Race-Based Medicine policy statement from the AAP in your discussions with learners and clinical care practices. We can't summarize this important piece better than the authors have already, so we provide you the citation and abstract here. Eliminating Race-Based Medicine (2022) by Wright JL, Davis WS, Joseph MM, Ellison AM, Heard-Garris NJ, Johnson TL, and the AAP Board Committee on Equity in Pediatrics: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2022-057998.
Race-based medicine has been pervasively interwoven into the fabric of health care delivery in the United States for more than 400 years. Race is a historically derived social construct that has no place as a biologic proxy. In addition to valid measures of social determinants of health, the effects of racism require consideration in clinical decision-making tools in ways that are evidence informed and not inappropriately conflated with the limiting phenotype of race categorization. This policy statement addresses the elimination of race-based medicine as part of a broader commitment to dismantle the structural and systemic inequities that lead to racial health disparities.
Use of Race in Pediatric Clinical Practice Guidelines: A Systematic Review (2022) by Gilliam CA, Lindo EG, Cannon S, Kennedy L, Jewell TE, Tieder JS in JAMA Pediatrics: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2792739. In this systematic review, the authors sought to understand the way national organizations use race in pediatric clinical practice guidelines. We draw your attention to Table 1 depicting a list of some positive impacts on health inequities and negative impacts on health inequities and perpetuation of structural racism. In Table 2 there are examples of studies with an appropriate use of race in describing future directions of research. And the supplement (link here) with more examples of inappropriate, appropriate, and indeterminate use of Race in the guidelines included in this review.
