Empowering Student Antiracist Work to Overcome Inertia in Academic Health Centers

Abstract

The national struggles for social justice that have dominated headlines since 2020 are reflected in the challenges academic health centers are confronting as they strive to become more antiracist. One of the largest challenges for these institutions may be the inertia of the status quo. While faculty may have become accustomed to a status quo that perpetuates inequity, students provide perspectives that can disrupt this inertia and lead to positive change. Students, however, face barriers to antiracist work, including power gradients (i.e., different amounts of power people possess according to their position in a hierarchy) and a need to be accepted as part of the physician profession. In this article, the authors examine these challenges to student antiracist advocacy. They identify student empowerment, faculty allyship, and sustainability as essential principles for student antiracist work. They suggest this work could be operationalized through sequential student-led task forces focused on addressing the most pressing antiracist issues. The authors further recommend an approach to professionalism and development of a physician professional identity based on the values of antiracism rather than on existing norms. With this foundation, students may be able to engage in antiracist work, build professional identities that are more antiracist, and become physicians who can ensure a more just health care environment for their patients and communities.

By Medical Students, for Medical Students: A Narrative Medicine Antiracism Program

“…Many previous antiracism efforts have been led by medical educators, 9 , 12 , 38 – 40 and several have been met with the challenges of differential student needs, institutional inertia, and desire for more institutional and personal accountability. 41 – 43 Medical students have historically played an integral role in galvanizing curricular change and promoting social justice, but the potential benefits of a medical student-led antiracism program are underexplored. 43 – 46 Herein, the authors saw a gap in medical education that could be uniquely filled.…”

“… 41 – 43 Medical students have historically played an integral role in galvanizing curricular change and promoting social justice, but the potential benefits of a medical student-led antiracism program are underexplored. 43 – 46 Herein, the authors saw a gap in medical education that could be uniquely filled.…”