Project EMBRACE, the acronym for “Ending Medical Bias and Racism by Advocating for Change and Equity” returned on October 8. A collaboration between residents from the UNC Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, the concept began with Melissa Wooten, MD, MPH, who helped develop and lead the conference last year.
“The idea was born out of frustration with the social injustices we’re continually witnessing in our country, highlighted by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others,” Wooten said. “With the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement growing, it felt like we didn’t have a formal curriculum to bring this movement into our work and specifically discuss racism in medicine.”
Similar to last year, the first session was designed to ensure everyone was on the same page in terms of having a shared terminology to implement when moving forward and tackling the issues of racism in our healthcare system.The goal was also to build a space for encouraging reflection, education, and most importantly, action around racism witnessed every day in healthcare.
“A majority of the time was spent in break out groups reflecting on ways implicit bias and structural racism negatively impact our patients, and then trying to brainstorm ways to consciously and actively address this moving forward.”
Participants were encouraged to leave with a shared vocabulary to deliberately engage and support anti-racism efforts, recognize how implicit bias contributes to structural racism, and develop concrete action steps to serve as an effective ally and anti-racist.
“In recognizing that talking about structural racism, implicit bias, and racism in medicine can be a challenging, and at times uncomfortable or awkward discussion to have, we want to ensure we create a safe and supportive space to come together with your colleagues and engage in meaningful and productive dialogue.”
Others individuals involved in planning the session were: Christel Wekon-Kemeni, MD (Peds-PGY3), Mike Croglio, MD (Medicine Chief), Hillary Spangler, MD (Med-Peds Chief), Heather Frank, MD (Med-Peds-PGY2), Tamara Saint-Surin, MD, assistant professor, division of general medicine and clinical epidemiology, and Mike Contarino, MD, associate professor, internal medicine and pediatrics, and program director of the UNC Internal Medicine & Pediatric Residency Program.
Looking Ahead
The next EMBRACE session is scheduled for January, focusing on race-based metrics. In February, the topic will be micro-aggressions. In March, civic engagement and its impact on health equity will be discussed.
To learn more about Project EMBRACE, contact melissa.wooten@unchealth.unc.edu.