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Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Medical School

Mailing Address
475 Vine Street
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101
Phone
(336) 716-4271
Email address
stuserv@wakehealth.edu
School Information
"Wake Forest University School of Medicine directs the education of nearly 1,900 students and fellows, including physicians, basic scientists and allied clinical professionals. The school of medicine also strategically investigates opportunities that will expand basic and clinical research, resulting in nationally and internationally recognized excellence in biomedical research. The school of medicine seeks to leverage its current areas of strength and focus to improve integration of its research programs and to maximize multidisciplinary and translational approaches" (Source: https://school.wakehealth.edu/).
General Information
Wake Forest University School of Medicine has engaged in anti-racist initiatives in areas such as training and curricular adjustments. The "justice thread" was created in response to the death of George Floyd. The school plans to review its curriculum through a DEI lens. Furthermore, the "Longitudinal Health Equity Program" was also created to have students working on these issues within their training. The department of Public Health Sciences has also released its statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. See developments below:

Actions Taken

Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • In response to the death of George Floyd in 2020, the School of Medicine created an initiative known as the "justice thread," which "aims to incorporate issues of equity into all four years of medical school."
  • The School of Medicine enacted its "Longitudinal Health Equity Program, which partners with community organizations to help students examine how poverty and other social factors play into health" and "starts in the third year of medical school, when students begin seeing patients."
  • The Internal Medicine Department's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion outlines its strategies and initiatives including "Leadership Development" programming which utilizes "Bystander Training" and "Implicit Bias Training."
  • The Internal Medicine Department's "Justice-Equity-Diversity-Inclusion (JEDI) Committee" outlines its strategies and describes its "Recruitment and Advancement" trainings which includes "Requiring members of our Hospital Medicine Recruitment Committee undergo implicit bias training." 
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • The School of Medicine announced that, "in its first two years, the justice thread’s five student designers worked with Brooks and Denizard-Thompson to host a lecture series on race in medicine and review course curricula with a goal of reducing bias and increasing awareness of health disparities."
  • The school's Internal Medicine Residency Program describes its curriculum which includes "Departmentally-driven, residency-focused DEI [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion] curriculum integrated into residency training."
Program and Research Funding
  • The School of Medicine hosts the Scholarship Clerkship Program in order to “promote diversity in the residency programs at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.”
Resources
  • The Internal Medicine Department's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion published its "Anti-Racism Resources" page and links to a comprehensive list of books, articles and podcasts on the topic of racism. The Office states, "This information is intended to serve as a resource to white people and parents to deepen our anti-racism work. If you haven’t engaged in anti-racism work in the past, start now."
  • The Internal Medicine Department's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion lists its "Affinity Groups" and includes the "White Affinity Group for Racial Equity" which describes its goals in part as follows: "To commit to and actively engage in our own personal growth and development around the role of white people in racial equity issues and the intersectionality of race in other equity issues." 
Symbolic Actions
  • The School of Medicine's Public Health Sciences department has released a statement on DEI.
  • The School of Medicine offers the Health Equity Certificate Program.
  • An Internship Program is offered to students with an “interest in Health Equity research and/or programming.”
Last updated November 16th, 2023
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