Emory University School of Medicine

On February 28, 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.”

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, “The antiracism curriculum aims to equip faculty, staff, and learners with the knowledge and tools for identifying, challenging, and eliminating policies, practices, systems, and structures that promote or maintain inequities suppressing marginalized people. We’ll examine how society and institutions including Emory were founded and how they have historically created and maintained systemic and institutional inequities. We’ll then provide resources, strategies, and practices so each person can actively promote an antiracist environment of authentic engagement, advocacy, and leadership both within the School of Medicine and beyond.”

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.”

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.”

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

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 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 Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has a page dedicated to Anti-Racism Action Guides, with resources on topics including, “Recognizing and Responding to Microaggressions,” “Self-Exploration,” “What can I do as a White Person,” “Talk to Your Kids about Race,” “Talking with Pediatric Patients About Race,” “How to Talk with Colleagues about Race, Racism and Anti-Racism,” “How to Talk with Adult Psychotherapy Patient about Race, Racism and Anti-Racism,” “Reducing Bias in Recommendation Letters, Candidate Evaluations and Assessments of Academic Products,” and “ACT for Anti-Racism.”

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.”

On February 28, 2023, Emory University School of Medicine stated that the school will “partner with the 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.”

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.”

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."