Emory University School of Medicine

In February 2023, the School of Medicine stated that it will “partner with [Emory] University to engage in continuous, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities to ensure diverse student, trainee, faculty, and staff populations, including enhancement of mentorship and advancement.”

In February 2023, the school announced it will “design, implement and grow programs and partnerships aimed at broadening diversity among qualified applicants for admission to its degree and training programs.”

On June 29, 2023, the school published its response to the Supreme Court's decision regarding race-conscious admission policies which stated the following: "I assure you that our commitment to diversity is not diminished by this decision. As President Fenves noted, our current admissions process evaluates each applicant as an individual. We continue to evaluate the ruling and how it will affect our admissions process in the SOM, but we will do everything within our legal authority to continue fostering a diverse community—not only ensuring a rich learning experience but better and more equitable patient care and research."

The school will, “Design and implement an educational portfolio for learners, staff, and faculty that infuses principles and competencies of equity, cultural humility, antiracism, bias mitigation, and respect for all members of our community.”

The school said, “Building on the foundation laid by the School of Medicine’s first two years of then-termed unconscious bias training and leveraging best and emerging practices research, we will offer enhanced Implicit Bias Training (IBT) to move participants from awareness and understanding to action for personal and systems change. New sub-modules let trainers tailor sessions to participants’ professional functions, roles, and/or DEI concerns.”

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine will, “Educate about unconscious bias, microaggressions, stereotypes and other related topics.”

Another one of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences’ Anti-Racism Action Steps includes the “Academics4BlackLives” professional development in addition to the Accountability Group’s creation.

On February 28, 2023, the school stated it will “develop, implement, and continuously refine training programs designed to improve recruitment, hiring, support and promote faculty and staff by utilizing programs aimed to reduce the impact of bias in these areas.”

The Actionable Education Initiative (AEI) aims to move the School of Medicine from mere "awareness of internal biases and external forces of marginalization and oppression into learning about their historical and psychological origins and effects and on to growing into anti-racist allies who actively work for and prize diversity, equity and inclusion." It is accomplished through anti-racism resources, implicit bias education, bystander/upstander education, and history.

In 2024, the school held its 3rd annual "Diversity and Inclusion Week." The event was hosted by the Office of Equity and Inclusion and themed “From Being to Belonging,” with over 900 participants attending from across the SOM. The event hosted keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and trainings centering on a number of DEI and health-related topics, such as "systemic health disparities across racial, ethnic, cultural, and social groups." The week also held a "truth and racial healing" discussion.

All MD learners must complete "Implicit Bias Recognition and Management Training" and "Upstander Training."

The school has a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Racial Advocacy (DEIRA) thread that was approved in 2020 and launched in 2021. As of 2024, it is led by "Dr. Tracey Henry to ensure the MD curriculum reflects the School of Medicine's mission for diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial advocacy in all aspects of patient care and the medical profession."

In September 2023, a DEIRA thread syllabus was released outlining the required trainings, classes, and learning outcomes for MD students. In M1 year during orientation, students must read and discuss “Myths about Physical Racial Differences were Used to Justify Slavery – and Are Still Believed by Doctors Today” and complete "Implicit Bias Awareness and Education" training.

During the M1 and M2 years, MD students will also study the "History of Racism, Bias in Medicine," "Advocacy 101 Workshop for Health Equity, Advocacy and Policy," "Cultural Responsibility in Medicine Simulations," and "Person-First and Anti-Bias Language Workshop." Through training, MD learners will "recognize the importance and develop skills to become an effective upstander for patients and other health professional colleagues in the face of microaggressions, bias or racism."

Under the school's DEIRA thread, it created a new Student Physicians Activity (SPA) or learning outcome, that is required to demonstrate before graduation, "related to DEI and anti-racism along with updating the other SPAs with an equity lens." The school also conducted a review for bias in the curriculum.

The school added "new DEI and anti-racism content based on identified gaps" in the MD curriculum.

The school has an online form where students can "report bias in the curriculum" and exams. MD students are told, "learners who encounter bias in the curriculum in any form should report these matters immediately and do not leave them to be experienced by future learners."

The Department of Pediatrics has a Center on Racial Equity for the Child, Youth and Family.

The school hosts the Emory Open DOOR Program which provides a stipend to students who are “underrepresented.”

The school provides information on grant-making opportunities, including the Diversity Supplement, which is funded by the NIH "to attract minority trainees and faculty to research careers."

The RYSE Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the School of Medicine hosts a Virtual Visiting Clerkship Program for "medical students from groups underrepresented in medicine, including but not limited to underrepresented minorities and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds." The program is a "two-week, non-graded virtual experience, which specifically targets students who intend to apply to and pursue a career in internal medicine." Those who complete the program are awarded a $250 stipend.

The school offers “Anti-Racism Resources,” such as Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to be an Antiracist” and Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility.”

The Department of Medicine offers “Racism and Bias in Medicine Infographics,” such as “The Relationships Among Vigilant Coping Style, Race, and Depression” and the “Effect of Clinician Bias on Doctor-Patient Communication and Care.”

The Department of Human Genetics offers DEI resources such as a webinar by Robin DiAngelo on “White Fragility.”

The school held a “Racism & Social Justice Webinar Series” with webinars such as “Dismantling Racism in the Ivory: How do we lead?” and “Anti-Racism Advocacy for Structural and Systemic Change.”

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences offers an “Anti-Racism Handbook.” The Department writes, “Anti-racism resources are available for residents and faculty. In these anti-racism guides, we provide information about anti-racism and suggested actions that one can take to contribute to an equitable future for all.”

The Churchwell Diversity & Inclusion Collective (CDIC) “advocates for matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the resident level through professional development, networking, and community outreach programs. Members also serve on the Department of Medicine’s DEI Council.”

The Wellness, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (WEDI) Pathway aims to “Promote awareness and education in the WEDI topics and how they influence the culture of medicine and the emergency medicine residency training environment through the promotion of mentorship, academic opportunity and scholarly activity.” Residents will “obtain additional knowledge in the areas of: physician wellness, bias, diversity, racism/anti-racism, equity, and inclusion.”

The Association of American Medical Colleges "released guidelines to address racism and bias and encourage diversity at all stages of a physician’s education." In response to the project, Dr. Sheryl Heron, a professor of emergency medicine and associate dean for community engagement, equity, and inclusion at Emory School of Medicine, said she “couldn’t be more thrilled.”

According to the Washington Examiner, in 2022 the Medical School was hit with a civil rights complaint due to a scholarship that was reserved for students who “self-identify as an under-represented minority.” The complaint accused the school of racial discrimination. The scholarship stated “Applicants must self-identify as an under-represented minority" ... specifically denoting “African American, Latinx, and/or Native American” as groups the University considered to be underrepresented. As of 2024, the scholarship appears to have been taken down and is no longer listed online.

The School provides an Anti-racism action guide to "provide information about anti-racism and anti-oppression, and suggest actions one can take." Guides include "Recognizing and Responding to Microaggressions," "What can I do as a White Person?," and "How to Talk with Colleagues about Race, Racism and Anti-Racism," among others.

The Office of Equity and Inclusion releases an annual end-of-year report. The 2023 report highlighted the many DEI accomplishments and updates from the year, such as the school's "commitment to vendor diversity" as "65% of vendors identified from diverse backgrounds." The report also provided updates on how the school is fulfilling its strategic plan.

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine has a Council for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

The school announced its Social Justice webinar series on Facebook in August 2020: "As the weekly Racism and Social Justice webinar series ends on Sept. 2, we thank everyone who participated in our community's collective education, engagement, and growth over the past several weeks. The final webinar, Racial Trauma, will be moderated by Marilyn Hazzard Lineberg (Faculty Staff Assistance Program), with panelists psychiatrists Telsie Andrews Davis and Andrea Burns, and psychologist Janice Hareword. Let's keep the conversation going. Please visit the video library to watch recordings from the series and explore the Anti-racism Resource Guide for additional readings, videos, and toolkits: https://fal.cn/3a33Z"

The Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has outlined its Anti-Racism Action Steps. One of these steps includes “electing leaders to government who will advance equity and social change in our society.”

One of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences’ Anti-Racism Action Steps includes “educating ourselves about racial inequality and biases, including ways that white individuals benefit from privilege associated with the color of their skin” through a text which “lists 26 specific and everyday effects of white privilege that people of color cannot count on.”

Another Anti-Racism Action Step set by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is to “encourage [students] to read and reflect on the history of how inequalities have shaped medicine and psychology, specifically in academic settings, and how as academics we can take important strides forward in eliminating widespread racism.”

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences encourages students to “read and reflect on the meaning of implicit bias and how it manifests, e.g., in the form of microaggressions, on various levels from the personal to the structural.”

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences urges students to take the Harvard implicit association test to “identify your own biases.”

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences asks students to “identify moments when these biases are present in our day to day lives.”

Another Action Step set by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is “reviewing the facts about racial disparities that exist within the legal system.”

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences set an Action Step to “consider how these anti-Black practices can start in childhood and unjustly influence the trajectory of Black individuals’ lives.”

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences set an Anti-Racism Action Step to “address these racial injustices” through programs that “invest in Black communities and youth,” “reduce the industrialization of police departments, jails, and prisons,” “provide council and services for under-resourced and underrepresented individuals in the legal system,” and advocate for policies that will dismantle the systems that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.”

The school plans to “design and implement programs that celebrate the diversity within our community and our successes in promoting diversity” according to its announcement on February 28, 2023.

Emory University School of Medicine states that it supports the Minority Ophthalmology Mentoring which consists of “a partnership between the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology that helps underrepresented in medicine (URiM) students become competitive ophthalmology residency applicants.”

On August 17, 2023, the school plans on hosting the Community Forum on Engagement, Equity, and Inclusion, which will focus on “updates on SOM diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and strategic priorities.”

On June 29, 2023, the school signed on to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) statement in response to the Supreme Court's decision regarding race-conscious admission policies, which stated the following: “We are deeply disappointed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to dismantle its longstanding precedent in the 2003 case, Grutter v. Bollinger, which had recognized student body diversity as a compelling interest permitting the limited consideration of race in admissions. Today’s decision demonstrates a lack of understanding of the critical benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in educational settings and a failure to recognize the urgent need to address health inequities in our country.”

The School of Medicine states in its strategic plan that it is "Intentionally [integrating] the principles of equity and inclusion in our interactions, spaces, policies, and practices to break down structural and systematic racism, homophobia, transphobia, gender inequities, and other barriers that impact marginalized groups."